


Strike

by GYT_34



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baseball, Angst, Baseball, Dreamcatcher, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, FxF, SuYeon, alternative universe, jiyoo, kpop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25172947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GYT_34/pseuds/GYT_34
Summary: Jiu was one of the best high school baseball players in the country, so her goal for the last year of high school was to focus on winning a college scholarship, for that she would need to be at her best. She didn't expect Kim Yoohyeon to move to her school.Yoohyeon, her biggest rival, who seems to beat her in all the things they came close. Jiu needed to be the great leader she was, but Yoohyeon seemed to be in every corner she was looking at, and driving her crazy in more ways than Jiu wanted to admit.Based on photos from the baseball game on 11/04/2017
Relationships: Kim Bora | SuA/Lee Siyeon, Kim Minji | JiU/Kim Yoohyeon
Comments: 67
Kudos: 149





	1. Home Plate

Jiu did not believe that she had to wake up early during the holidays. When she got the call from her coach, two days earlier, she really thought about the alternative of not answering, she knew that the last week of vacation she had would be ruined in some way.

There she was, driving to school, but with her mind on the lake near her grandparents' house, she imagined the fun her cousins should be having.

But she knew what came first, the team. She needed to be excellent that last year, she needed the full scholarship for college, she could only breathe when she finally enrolled in college.

She found Sua and Siyeon near the school entrance, Sua cringe on to Siyeon as usual, regardless of the temperature of that day.

"It is a surprise that someone is here on their own choice" Jiu commented, placing the backpack on his shoulder as they walked towards the baseball field. She noticed a green bicycle tied up.

“I wouldn't leave my girlfriend here alone, I know she was going to have the same angry expression you have now,” Jiu rolled his eyes at the words of Sua “Besides, I knew that the girl who going to take the test is very famous”.

"And since when do you care about baseball?"

"Since I started dating a player, I think I've been to so many games that I must recognize the best players".

"Actually, that's what I'm here for, there is a name circulating for a long time here, I don't think you could handle this news alone, the last thing we want is for you to go crazy in the last year" Siyeon cut off conversation between the two, then let the conversation die.

She didn't mention names, maybe it would be easier for her to see for herself what was coming.

And there was the owner of the name of the rumors, on the baseball field, under the hot sun at the end of the holidays and early afternoon, running from side to side in order to warm up. Jiu stopped halfway to the court, her uniform already on after taking a quick pass in the bathroom.

She wondered if she was going crazy, because that alone would be the reason why someone thought it would be a good idea to put them both in the same type. Kim Yoohyeon, the talent of another state, big enough to be considered the greatest promise in the country, of all the times they competed Yoohyeon ended up winning, not the whole game, just against her, all the pitches that Jiu had made, no matter the effects she was trying to hit, the three home runs that the girl had done under her last game were still circulating her mind. Every time they had to play together, their friends prepared for what was coming, a moody Jiu before, during and after the game.

"Coach" Jiu's voice was firm, and the man knew very well that the girl hadn't liked that at all.

"Jiu, I'm glad you're ready, how about we start with a few simple pitches".

"Coach" Jiu repeated as Siyeon managed to get away from that conversation, going to the new girl, Sua also made her way into the field to introduce herself.

"I know you are not happy, but we need to win this year's national, for that we need it, we will have the best pitcher and the best batter, wouldn't it be nice to have a trophy in your last year?"

Jiu snorted, marching towards the middle of the field, he knew that there was no way to discuss it, the coach really wasn't asking her opinion, she was probably only there to participate in the official test, which was only due to bureaucracy. He also thought it would be better for her to hear the news first hand than when arriving at school on the first day of school. She was sure to have this outbreak, but at least at that moment she had no one to watch.

Jiu stretched trying not to look at the scene in front of her, Siyeon and Yoohyeon seemed to chat excitedly as they warmed up, Sua was hanging on the side grid to talk too, after she had been kicked out of the field by the coach.

"Ok, kids, simple start first" The couch shouted from the bench, he had a clipboard in his hand, Jiu was sure that it was just a facade.

Jiu adjusted her glove and looked at Siyeon, who was preparing herself in the position of catcher, how much she wanted it to end as soon as possible. Yoohyeon stepped in front of her, swinging the bat to prepare, then looked at her, just as she did in all the games they had against each other, the same smile before getting into position, Jiu just wanted to get out of there.

Yoohyeon hit the first two simple shots, the balls flying to the other end of the field, farther and farther away each time, and Yoohyeon's smile grew. Jiu took a deep breath, playing the coach's order to give another simple pitch, the whole situation was getting too much for her, she looked at Siyeon who was making a sign to repeat the previous pitch, then looked at her own feet, trying to find a more difficult pitch.

When her eyes came back up she released, during those few seconds, between the Knuckleball coming out of her fingers until it met Yoohyeon's bat their eyes met, her eyes got stuck even after Jiu felt a wind near her left ear, soon then the noise of the ball hitting the ground not far behind her.

Only Yoohyeon no longer had the smile on her face, she seemed to be confused, looking at Jiu as if she wanted to ask what she thought she was doing. It seemed that she was not the only one since the coach then whistled, telling Jiu to take a break, while he himself took her place on the field.

She snorted as she sat on the bench, throwing the glove in her hand to the other side. She spent the first two weeks of her vacation training that pitch with her uncle, losing with that to the girl made it seem that, not only was she losing her vacation, but she had also lost a good amount of time.

The coach didn't call her back for the rest of the training, she couldn't be happier with that, the last thing she wanted was to see that smile again. After a while the coach whistled again, saying that they could leave, Siyeon hurried to go to the bathroom, but Jiu stayed in the moment watching the coach and the girl talk some more, maybe she was thinking too much about all that, because she had a feeling that her name had been mentioned once or twice.

“Let’s go, stop paying attention to other people's conversations” Sua appeared on the bench, taking the glove from the floor and pulling her away.

Jiu only snorted, taking the glove back as they walked to the cars, they found Siyeon halfway.

"What was that?" Siyeon asked pulling Sua close to her. Jiu really hoped that none of the parties in that field would ask her that question.

“Wasn't that a test? I was just looking to see if she would fit the team”.

"Come on, we know her, you know very well that she is more than enough to join any team".

"Then why did she get in my team right away?".

The other two did not answer her, they knew that the girl would not give up on that thought, that she would probably think about it the rest of the vacation. Sua seemed to wake up to that situation, a smile on her face appearing.

"You know, there is a book I was reading while on vacation," Sua started, Siyeon seemed to know what was coming by trying to pull the girl away, but she was quicker and broke away from her arms "it says that love and hate are very close to each other”.

"Where are you trying to get to?" Jiu asked trying to get away from Sua's arms that were now heading towards her.

"Yoohyeon is cute".

"You have a girlfriend, Sua."

"I am not talking about me, you are single, she is beautiful, you have something in common...".

Jiu jerked away from both of them, that was too much, she was almost running when she got to the car, but she could still hear the laughter of the other two behind her. She closed the door, throwing the glove aside again, she sat there for a while, watching her friends waving at her, but stopping when they got to the other car, her eyes going to another presence, Yoohyeon walking towards the same green bike she had seen before.

"Hey, Yoohyeon!" Sue screamed to get the girl's attention, her arms waving in the air to get her attention, the girl turned around while unlocking the bike, smiling at the two "Do you want a ride!?".

"No, thanks, I need to know the city...".

Jiu didn’t wait for the rest of the conversation, accelerating away from there as quickly as possible, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel and her eyes fixed on the street.

The rest of the holidays went painfully slow, Sua tried to nudge her again by message, getting blocked for four days, until Siyeon had to call her, saying that she couldn't take any more of her complaining that she had been blocked, and asking her to, please, unblock it.

With three days left for classes to return, Dami arrived from her trip, even tried to convince her to meet to train a little, but Jiu really didn't want anything with baseball for now. She spent the last week of vacation preparing for what was coming.

And it arrived the way she expected.

The same green bicycle was already locked when she arrived at school, the buzz increased as she passed people. She tried to hide for the first few classes, but she still had to answer the questions that some people were throwing at her.

_‘Yoohyeon is on the team now?’_

_'Yes'_

_'What is it like to have a competition for the position of best player on the team now?'_

_'We are a team, there is no competition'_

_‘So this year we’re finally going to win a championship?’_

_'We will do our best as always'._

Jiu wanted to have Siyeon's ability to appear intimidating when she wanted to, so she could survive that day in peace.

When she arrived at the cafeteria she realized she was far from getting it, the girls looked at her for a few seconds, waiting for a reaction, any reaction that was to everything that was going on, but when the girl came down to just eating the sandwich she brought from home Dami took the lead, bringing up another topic before Sua could make any comment.

Between her finishing her sandwich and picking up the apple something caught her attention, entering the cafeteria was Yoohyeon, who was accompanied by some people, one of them Handong, her friend who was an exchange student from China. Jiu squeezed the apple in her hand, great, now the girl was also stealing her friends.

She should have stopped watching the two, so she wouldn't be caught while Handong pointed at the table where she was. Yoohyeon looked nervous when their eyes met, moving in the same place, before pointing to a table farther away from her, Handong said goodbye to her, when Handong walked to her usual table she made a point of looking seriously at Jiu, until she sat on the chair in in front of her.

"I thought the new girl would sit here" Gahyeon said, she doesn't usually go to the games, only the most important ones, so it wasn’t a surprise that she didn't recognize Yoohyeon, but Jiu knew that Sua would update the girl as soon as possible, so she would gain another ally to disturb her.

"Jiu must have scared her, she had accepted the invitation to sit here during class" Handong still hadn't taken her accusing eyes off her, not even to start eating the fruit salad that she had stolen from Dami.

"You have to hurry, I heard that people are already running after her" And there was Sua's second attack.

"Great, the sooner this happens, the sooner you can leave me alone".

"Don't be rude to her, Yoohyeon just moved from another state, you are the great leader, be the adult" Handong waved Sua off, finally taking her eyes off Jiu.

Jiu didn't answer it, just kept eating, keeping the compliment in her mind and focusing on the advice.

At the end of class, on the first test for the team for the rest of the students, she found her again, between Dami and Siyeon on the bench, wearing the same uniform she wore. Gahyeon, Sua and Handong were also there, sitting in the stands, looked like Sua had said about her crazy plan to the other two, and Handong looked like she was just there to see if Jiu would be adult enough to get through it . The only thing Jiu was sure of was that it would be a long year.


	2. Hello Kitty

The coach seemed very excited about that year, that is why he signed them up in a friendly championship against small teams, so small that they could be considered neighborhood teams. Jiu thought he was going crazy, that alone would explain why he announced that the first game would be two weeks after they formed the official team, just when they had half the team with new players.

Those two weeks were unique, Jiu had never experienced so many things in such a short time and so early. She was trying to be an adult, just as Handong had told her, but as adult as she was, she hadn't talked to Yoohyeon yet, in fact the only words she had directed in the girl's direction were also for the whole team during training, the the only time she had heard Yoohyeon's voice was when it was directed to the other girls too.

It wasn't hard to ignore Yoohyeon, the girl was practically gone from her life, she was really starting to think she was ignoring her, then Handong commented that the girl had joined the language club with her. Jiu had no intention of paying attention to the girl, but she found herself aware of all the time she spent at school, Yoohyeon really seemed to want to spend as much time as possible there, on Monday she had a language club with Handong; on Tuesday there was a photography club; video game club on Thursday, which Siyeon had said she wanted to join; on Friday there was a movie club.

Jiu really didn't know how she had memorized all that, she didn't even know why every Wednesday, when they had no training, Yoohyeon had no club and she was leaving the music club, she stopped and watched the girl run to the green bike, a big smile on her face as she pedaled away.

It was two unique weeks, Jiu had never been so confused about something in such small amount of time.

The first game took place on a Saturday, the day was cloudy and windy, enough for Jiu not to want to be on that field that day as much as she loved to play, the rain would surely fall. Just like two days ago, when Jiu hurried to get from the car to the school door as quickly as possible, her steps slowed when she saw the figure a little far from her, Yoohyeon trying to clutch her bike awkwardly, with one hand holding the hood of the raincoat while the other tried to close the lock, Jiu wondered if she should hurry her steps to help, but soon the girl got up, took a look towards her and then ran to the building, almost falling two times because of the raincoat, she could not understand why she was paying so much attention to that girl.

Yoohyeon looked excited when she arrived in the field, Jiu was sure she wouldn't see the green bike that day, not because they were in a field further from the school, but because the girl was carrying two boxes with her, Jiu was sure she wouldn't be able to balance anything on the bike besides herself.

"Cupcakes, my mom baked them last night, they are for luck, it is a tradition that I did on the other team before every game" Yoohyeon said excitedly while showing the cupcakes, all decorated with detail, with small balls and baseball bats on top of them.

Jiu watched the other players heading towards the box, Siyeon taking a big bite of the one she managed to steal from Seunghee, who only stopped complaining when Dami got her another one. Yoohyeon passed by her, the same excited smile as she ran to the stands with the other box in hand, she handed the box to Gahyeon, who was very excited until Handong took the box from her, repeating that the cupcakes were for everyone.

"Hey, take your cupcake, before the girls steal it," Dami stopped beside her, pushing the cupcake towards her, Jiu accepted with her eyes still in the distance interaction "before I thought Sua was going crazy, but seeing how you are reacting to some things...”.

Jiu felt her cheeks flush, quickly turned her back to what she was watching, taking a big bite of the cupcake. Dami laughed at her friend's reaction, Jiu was now sure that Sua had found yet another ally in her bizarre plan.

The coach gathered them all up as soon as Yoohyeon came back, the cupcake half eaten still in his hands while talking about the game plan.

They hadn't played with that team in 30 years, the difference in the score from the last game had given them enough reason not to play with them again. And as much as the coach wanted to appear humble, they all knew that the objective of the game was more than winning, it was to remain with the tradition of not letting the other team score any points.

And Jiu didn't want to appear arrogant either, but when halfway through the first inning she understood why that team hadn't scored any points.

At the third inning, when Yoohyeon was going to hit, something it Jiu's attention, outside the field there was a police car, two policemen on the grid. Yoohyeon seemed to notice their presence as she ran to first base, waving at them as soon as her foot touched first base.

One of the men waved back while the other clapped his hands. Jiu watched them for some time, dividing their attention between the game and the cops, she tried to be careful that no one realized that the game she was watching was Yoohyeon stealing bases.

She had already seen Yoohyeon playing more times than she wanted to, but it was different to see her playing for her team, it just gave one more confirmation that in fact Yoohyeon was a great player.

Yoohyeon being a great player made the crowd go wild, even with the few people around. Jiu was furious about this, she had not even realized that abruptly a feeling of jealousy was taking hold of her.

She had already had this conversation the previous year with a college scout, at the end of one game while the others collected the equipment, her coach pulled her aside, his hand on her shoulder and a proud smile as he introduced them. She still remembered his voice, cold and premeditated, as if he had been bored because he had passed too many schools, because he was having the same conversation as always.

_"You are an excellent player, we are watching you throughout your journey, your coach must be proud of the improvement you are having," the coach smiled even more proud at the scout's word, but Jiu knew there was something coming follow "but I'm worried about you, you live in a team that you are the star, in a city that you are one of the big names, the reality in college is different, in college there will be many players who are the big stars of their cities , can you share the spotlight?”._

The same voice circled her head when the coach called her into the game, this time putting her on as a shortstop, she had never stayed there before, but the coach said she needed to try other positions, have a bigger curriculum for college. The coach had never talked about the conversation with the scout again, but he had said that she was going to be fine, that she only needed to focus on the senior year, but as he sent her to the new position, Jiu was sure he had been worried about those words too.

She looked at Yoohyeon positioning herself in the same defense point that had been the whole defense game, central field, Jiu could see her clearly if she looked over her shoulder, the last thing she wanted was to be in that position in the first game together on the same team. She focused on Yeji, the new player from the first year of high school, walking to the pitcher position.

They had trained together all these weeks, Jiu was sure the girl could take her place as a pitcher when she left. In fact, Yeji was excellent, she eliminated the first players easily, but it looked like she was getting tired, as the next player almost got to first base, but Yoohyeon managed to eliminate her before she could save herself.

Jiu turned to receive Yoohyeon's ball, but the girl was not looking at her when she sent her the ball, but at Yeji, shouting that she was doing a good job. Jiu didn’t believe when she turned to throw the ball back at Yeji, the girl was smiling again, and seemed calmer than she was before, and that was demonstrated when she quickly eliminated the next player.

On the last player of the inning, Jiu moved closer to second base, taking a quick look at Dami, who looked as bored as she did on first base. She was starting to wonder if the coach had any hidden plans to put them in such an amateur competition, it was as if they were wasting time, a precious Saturday that she could be spending doing the huge science project for the following week.

Yeji had already taken a strike when she turned her back at them, this time looking at Jiu, she knew what the youngest was trying to say, they had trained a more difficult pitch this past week, Yeji had not perfected it yet, so it was still unpredictable, but it was a game that they already won and if something went wront the other girls would surely eliminate before the player even reached first base, so Jiu smiled at the girl telling her to do it.

Yeji turned to the front again, getting ready to play, everything happened very fast, in a moment the ball came out of Yeji's fingers, then it met the bat, it was a high fly. Jiu was sure that she would be able to catch it, so she started taking quick steps backwards, the glove raised ready to catch the object, then she felt a thump on her left side, then she fell with everything on the floor. Her eyes went to the side, looking for whatever it was that hit her, she found Yoohyeon beside her, a grimace of pain on her face, but their eyes didn't meet, Yoohyeo seemed to wake up first, she got up quickly, looking for the white ball, throwing it away, but it was too late, before the ball reached Seunghee on the homeplate, the commemorative screams were heard, the hitter had managed to pass through all the bases.

Jiu stayed on the floor for a few more seconds, trying to get what just happened. Yoohyeon was standing with her back to her, looking at the Homeplate, one hand on her waist and the other on her face.

"Jiu?" Dami had already approached her, getting her up quickly, one hand on her back to push to the bench "Don't stay still, don't let them see you are lost, the inning is over, stay lost in the bench".

Jiu sat on the bench, her eyes follow Dami to a homeplate to hit. She looked slowly to the side, Siyeon was not far from her, looking confused for a few seconds before Seunghee made her look away, she continued looking around, away from her was Yoohyeon, still with the same expression in pain as she placed an ice pack on the right side of her face, Jiu assumed it should be where they collided.

The game seemed to pass quickly after that, Jiu played the rest automatically, not daring to direct a look at another girl. That was until the referee finished the game.

Yoohyeon was the first to leave the field, going straight to the locker room, Jiu accelerated her steps to follow the girl. Her head was confused, but hot, she needed to resolve whatever happened at that moment.

She tugged at Yoohyeon's arm as soon as they were inside the locker room, pushing her towards the nearest wall, she heard the noise of the impact and the noise of pain coming from the girl, but she remained steady, her hand open on her belly so Yoohyeon couldn’t move.

"What were you thinking when you did that?" Jiu's voice was heavy and made Yoohyeon look at her confused.

"Did what?".

"Made us lose a point, the first in years against that team".

"Any game has the same winning opportunity for both teams, we still win with a big difference...".

"We still lost a point".

"Which was not my fault".

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you entered my area, if you stayed in your place on the field it would not happen".

Jiu opened her mouth to answer it, but before she could do anything the door to the locker room opened again, when the other girls saw the scene they set out to separate them quickly. Siyeon pulled Jiu into the shower area.

"What are you doing?" Siyeon asked, controlling herself so that her voice did not become loud.

"We missed a point...".

"It was an accident...".

"That would be...".

“Jiu, look at me” Siyeon held the girl's face, Jiu wanted to take the hands off her, yell at her too “I know you are angry now, but it was your fault, you entered the area she was taking care, she screamed that the ball was hers, but you kept going backwards with everything” Siyeon took a deep breath, taking the girl's hands and taking two steps back “I know you having a hard time now because of college, I know that there's a lot of demands on you, but give the girl a break, take a long shower to cool your head”.

Jiu stood still while the girl walked away from her. She only released the breath she held when the cold water hit her face, kept her eyes closed for a long time, trying to put all the thoughts on the line. After a while she listened to the other showers opening.

She can hear the girls' laughter coming out of the locker room when she finally got out of the shower. When she left the locker room she saw them again, the girls were in the parking lot at the back, dividing people in the cars to go to the pizzeria, it was the tradition of the games that they won to go to a pizzeria to celebrate, close to them Yoohyeon seemed to talk to the players from the other team.

"I was already sending a girl to look after you," Jiu turned to the coach, he looked as nervous as she was, fiddling with his cap every five seconds as they walked towards the other girls "we need to have a conversation about what happened".

"Can't we talk about it Monday?"

"No," He stopped walking when they were getting too close to the other "mistakes happen, but you made two in a row, which made us lose a point, then you made a bigger mistake in the locker room".

"Coach...".

“No, first when you are put in a position, your job is to do it, so the other players can do their job, so play for the team, second you don’t decide what Yeji will pitch, you knew it was an uncertain move, but it’s gave the okay for her to do that, I know you’re a good pitcher, but don’t rush Yeji, make her take all the primary steps first”.

"Okay, this is not going to happen again".

"Third" the coach sighed looking at his feet trying to find the right words "you attacked your own teammate".

"I know, I'm going to apologize".

"Do it sincerely, not because someone is telling you to do it, and get to training early, your punishment will be 40 laps on the field."

"Coach...".

"Now 50, but anything else to say?"

Jiu sighed, shaking her head as she headed towards her car, the last thing she wanted was to go to a pizzeria, staying for hours in the same environment as the people she didn't want to face after what happened. she knew I owed an apology not only to Yoohyeon, but for all the team.

"I thought you were going to stay in there for the rest of your life, the security guard was already locking you in there" Sua jumped from the hood of Siyeon's car, drawing the attention of the other girls to Jiu.

"We already divided, Handong goes with you".

Jiu saw the other girls getting into the cars as she walked slowly to her own car. Yoohyeon ran to Dami's car when her name was called, Jiu saw a hello kitty bandage in the place she had been hit on the right side of her face, but she could still see a purple spot underneath, Jiu felt her heart tighten with that image.

"Don't look too much, the last thing you want to do is fall in love with her" Handong walked past her, stopping at the passenger door of the car. Jiu quickened her steps.

She only dared to speak again when they were three blocks away, letting Dami's car go a little further, as if the girls inside could hear something.

"Are you disappointed?" Jiu tightened the wheel anxiously.

"Yes, I heard everything about what happened in the locker room".

"I assumed that we would go alone so you can give me a lecture".

"Yoohyeon is a year below you, she will not steal your place in college, she will not steal from this team either, she will only be here to help make the team stronger, even when you leave".

"I think she will cover my role next year just fine".

"She told me that the schools offered a lot of things for her to join them, I don't know if she will continue next year here, there is a lot of money involved".

“And why didn't she go to them? Why did she choose this one?”.

“I don't know, she didn't tell me, why don't you ask her? In a civilized way and right after your apology”.

"I'm going to apologize to her, I want you to know that I made that decision before you came to talk to me, I know I did something wrong" Jiu unscrewed the wheel, letting herself breathe normally.

"Great, at least I didn’t have a lot of work, but I think you really scared her, her dad was watching when it happened too".

"I know that too, that's why I wanted your help".

"I’m surprise again".

"Just don't let it get to Sua's ears, I don't want her to think of a great romantic act of apology".

"It's weird that you quoted romance now, it wasn't going through my head, it probably wasn't going through Sua's head either after what happened".

Jiu squeezed the wheel again.


	3. Strike One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I made a game rule mistake in the last chapter, I was supposed to write two inning, but I ended up writing one and there were a lot of players in one.  
> Anyway, my bad, I'll pay more attention

Jiu put her hands on her knees as she bent forward, her punishment seemed to have been doubled by the heat it was doing that day, an even greater punishment for having an audience watching her, the male soccer team had passed their training to the same time on Monday, they seemed to be entertained by watching the girl almost dying from running so much. In a way, Jiu would be grateful for they being there, otherwise she would have thrown all her lunch out.

Things were different than she expected when she arrived at school. She hadn't seen Yoohyeon anywhere, in a way she expected this, but it looked like the girl was really running away from her this time.

_"Jiu, she may be the star of the league, but you are still the local star that everyone has seen grow, if you treat her in a way everyone else will treat her the same" Handong had explained to her just before enter her last class._

_"Have they treated her badly?" Jiu felt her heart sink._

_"I like that you just admit that you were stupid, but in a way yes, nothing directly or physical, just a few looks and whispers, she must have been scared in some way"._

_"I'll fix this..."._

_"I hope so, Siyeon has been walking with her between classes to talk about games, she still hasn't fully understood what is going on, but I think she will understand it somehow, and you know how Siyeon looks like when she’s mad"._

Jiu knew she deserved it all, maybe even more laps, but she wouldn't talk about it with her coach, she really didn't want to be suspended from a game.

Yoohyeon was one of the last to arrive, but she had still managed to see the end of Jiu's race, watching the girl take the last laps with a confused look on her face. Jiu thanked her for not wearing the hello kitty bandage, she really didn't want to have that staring at her, she still didn't know if it was better to look at what was left of the small bruise on the girl's face.

"Since everyone is here, why don't we talk about some strategies first?" The coach shouted when Siyeon came running for training.

They all turned to walk to the coach, Yoohyeon was still in the same spot watching Jiu.

"Did you like the view?" Jiu asked as she passed by, wiping the sweat with the back of her hand.

"Did you like the race?".

"Can we talk later? Just the two of us".

Yoohyeon didn't answer, just quickened her pace until she reached the others.

The training had been tiring long, Jiu didn’t know how she would be able to survive the next day, as much as she wanted to get home as soon as possible, diving into a bathtub full of ice, she still had something to do. So she waited by Yoohyeon's bicycle until the girl appeared again.

She would even think that the girl had run away from her if it weren't for the bike still beside her, but when the girl appeared she understood the reason for the delay, she was walking with Siyeon, who was showing a game in her hand, Jiu knew which game it was, she still remembered Sua asking her to receive the game at her house because she wanted to surprise her girlfriend, and with Siyeon not leaving her side it was a little difficult to do that.

"Hi Jiu" Siyeon was the first to notice her presence "I thought you were already gone".

"I wanted to talk with Yoohyeon".

“Oh,” Siyeon seemed to realize what was going on, Jiu was very grateful to not have to explain further “well, I have to go too, Sua told me to call her, but my cell phone died, so she must be getting a little crazy now, you can stay with the game for a while”.

"Oh really?" Yoohyeon seemed excited about the idea.

"Sure, take your time, enjoy the game."

Jiu watched the short and strange conversation between the two, confused if they were really talking about just a game or something bigger than that.

When they were alone, Yoohyeon also seemed to want to get out of there as soon as possible, quickly going to the bike to unlock it.

"I'm sorry" Jiu started, trying to get the other girl's attention.

"It’s fine".

"No, it’s not, I crossed the line, I crossed several lines, now I don't know what to do to apologize to you...".

"It’s fine, Jiu" Yoohyeon stood up, the chain already stored in her backpack and already pulling the bicycle "Let’s just live together in peace”.

Jiu stood in the same spot for a few minutes, watching Yoohyeon pedal away, until she disappeared down the street. She should have said something, but maybe it was not the right time, she wanted to appear honest, it would have been better to have thought about a full speech.

While in the bathtub full of ice, her head back and her eyes fixed on the ceiling, she thought she should do something, something better, because maybe the guilt would come off her shoulders. It took two days to give up and accept Handong's idea of baking something for the girl, she had spent the night making the small chocolate cake with strawberries on top, which looked a little too crooked.

She had missed the music club just to wait for the girl to finally appear, standing in the same spot beside the bike. Yoohyeon looked tired when their eyes met, Jiu tried not to think that she had seen the girl sigh when their eyes met.

“Hi,” Jiu started to speak, moving around while trying to put the most beautiful smile on her face “I tried to make a cake for you, a more consistent apology, I put it in a bag to help you carry it”.

"I already said that everything was fine" Yoohyeon focused on unlocking the bike as soon as possible, Jiu realized that.

"Yoohyeon, I...".

"What you are really apologizing for?"

"For the way I treated you...".

"And why did you treat me like that?" Jiu opened and closed her mouth several times, her mind suddenly went blank "I already accepted your apologies, but you still don't know what you are apologizing for".

Yoohyeon this time stood still, waiting for the answer, when she received nothing she left, but still carrying Jiu's crooked cake, the bag swinging on the handlebars.

When Jiu was alone at home, furious with herself for not answering anything, she searched her cell phone for the contact she had left aside for almost two years. It took a long time before she took the courage to finally send a message.

_'Hey, it's Jiu, I hope you're still using the same number, I need help with something'._

The next day, she ran back home, Bomi had only replied to her message with a time, as she always did while they were on the same team, that was enough for Jiu to know that the girl would call her on time. As much as she knew that the other girls probably missed Bomi, she still preferred to have that conversation alone.

Bomi called when she had just dropped into bed, the woman just laughed at her tired expression when she was answered. Jiu could see a part of Bomi's dormitory, the jersey from the last high school baseball game framed on the wall next to the messy bed, some thick books on a study table, Bom herself looked like she had just woken up, her hair done up in a sloppy bun while eating a big packet of instant noodles.

"The coach must be very excited to make you train so much" commented Bomi as Jiu got ready on the bed.

"The coach has gone crazy".

"Yeah, I heard he signed you up for too many tournaments".

Bomi had graduated from high school two years earlier, she was the big star who had trained Jiu to be the player she was, it was like passing the baton. It was also a big surprise when the woman denied a scholarship to the biggest college in the state, choosing one farther away so she could study together with her girlfriend, who had graduated a year before she did.

"Yeah..." Jiu didn't know how to tell that this was not the problem.

"I also heard that Kim Yoohyeon joined the team, I went to watch her game last year, she is really good, I think you guys..."

"That's the problem" Jiu cut her off, trying to look at a point behind Bomi so she wouldn't have to face her, even if it was just through a cell phone screen "Yoohyeon is the problem".

“Is she the mean type? She causes trouble? People with her status tend to have a big ego”.

"It’s not that, she is the opposite of that, the problem may not be her, but me".

Jiu told what had happened, since she had been tested, going through the first game and the confusion in the locker room, even telling about the pointless apologies she had made. Bomi just smiled at the end.

"Who knew Jiu, the star of the city, would be jealous, I thought this would only happen when you arrived at college, I was even preparing a speech for that".

"Bomi" whined Jiu as she threw her head back, watching the small dreamcatcher that was on the bed "you are not helping".

“Admit to her that you are jealous, I'm sure she will understand you, maybe even some girls on her old team have pass to the same thing and they talked about it, it must not have been easy for them to be called 'Yoohyeon's team' for so long time".

"Maybe that's what I'm afraid of, that I'm known as ‘the girl on the Yoohyeon’s team’"

"You are not going, people know you, they know what you are capable of, if that was true no scout would watch your games".

Jiu was silent, this time watching the girl eat the rest of what would be her dinner. Chorong appeared soon after, smiling excitedly at Jiu after giving a kiss on the other's cheek, she watched Bomi update her girlfriend on what was happening.

"Don't worry about it," Chorong repeated the same thing said to her earlier "she is not your rival either, you are from different years, I am sure you will win your scholarship next year, if you choose our college I will even buy you the college’s t-shirt”.

Jiu laughed, letting herself be taken to another subject, for example, about how college was, or how games were.

While Bomi was talking about the last game she had, which her team had lost by a considerable difference, making Bomi furious, Jiu noticed a difference in Chorong. The woman had a wider smile on her face, as if she had seen something new or had an idea.

"Jiu, this Yoohyeon, is she beautiful?" Chorong asked after Bomi had just finished telling her story.

Jiu didn't answer, but she could feel her cheeks heating up, while giving some excuse to hang up, her hands shaking a little, she could hear Bomi laughing over the cell phone speaker.

She kept thinking about that question for the rest of the week, she would have no problem answering that yes, she thought Yoohyeon was pretty, but Bomi had said that she had gone to some other girl's games, and as much as Chorong didn't play, she still liked baseball and still followed all the games Bomi wanted to see or participate in, Chorong certainly knew who Yoohyeon was. There could only be some intention hidden among the words, that did make Jiu nervous, how could she not understand anything alone?

Two weeks later on a Sunday, Sua sent a message, there wasn't much, just an address, a time and the phrase _'come and save me from boredom'_. Jiu knew what that meant, another day that Siyeon decided to pay more attention to a video game than to her.

She should have known something was wrong, she hadn't recognized the address, but as soon as she parked the car in front of the house, she knew where it was. She could see from the police car parked in front of hers that she was in trouble, she was sure she really was when the same cop from the first game opened the door, giving her a long and heavy look as he told her to get in.

She not only had to fix things up with Yoohyeon but also with her parents.

She found Sua in an armchair in the room, arms crossed and a sulky expression on her face, the other five people in the room, Yoohyeon, Siyeon and three more from the video game club, did not direct more than a three-second look towards her.

"Glad you came" Sua pulled her to share the armchair, hugging her while resting her head on her shoulder "I was thinking I would have to die alone here".

"Don't be a drama queen, Siyeon will give you attention 24 hours a day, I'm sure that a few hours away from her won't kill you".

She just squeezed her more, making Jiu laugh at the drama she was doing. Yoohyeon's father appeared shortly afterwards in uniform, told Yoohyeon to have fun, but remember to keep everything in order before her mother returned from the shift at the hospital.

"He hates me," whispered Jiu, hoping that no one else in the room would hear her.

"At least you can still try to change your mother-in-law's opinion".

"Sua" Jiu moved her shoulder so that the girl would pay attention.

"Don't worry, to stay away from him you just have to not be arrest".

After a few hours, Jiu was really wondering what she was doing there, things in that game were happening too fast for her to understand, and as much as other times she had Sua to talk to, this time the girl looked too tired, dozing in her shoulder all the time, Sua just woke up to push her towards the kitchen to get something for her to drink.

Jiu looked at Yoohyeon to ask permission or to ask the way, but the girl seemed so focused that she let it go, just left there as soon as possible. She made a point of taking a few more minutes in the kitchen, watching the sky outside.

When she was coming back, with a can of soda in her hand, she ran into someone.

Close, too close, so close that she could see that Yoohyeon's eyes had a different glow at this distance.

Yoohyeon was the first to split up, going to the microwave with the empty bowl she was holding. Jiu watched the girl put a new packet of popcorn inside, five seconds of courage was what she needed.

“I am jealous,” Jiu said at once, drawing the attention of the girl who looked at her confused “I am jealous of you, because you are the best player I have ever met, and perhaps I am experiencing the _‘high school player that finally realizes that there are better players out there than her_...”.

"I'm not here to take your place".

"I know, but it is still a feeling I have, because you are the type of player who does a press conference to announce the team you have chosen, while I need to work twice as hard to get an offer".

"I'm sorry for making you feel like this...".

"I'm sorry for being an idiot, it's not your fault, you're an incredible player, I'm going to try my best not to be stupid again".

"Sure" Yoohyeon smiled at her, Jiu tried not to pay attention to how the girl's eye looks extremely cute while she smiles "For the team's sake?"

"For our sake".

When Jiu returned to the room Sua was already waiting with a big smile on her face, knowing exactly what was going on in her friend’s mind after seeing that the two girls were in the same place moments ago. Jiu hated the fact that she texted Chorong soon after.

_'Yes, she is'._


	4. Pooltalk

Yoohyeon was everywhere. Jiu had realized that after everything was fine with them, before the girl looked like she didn't even study at that school, then she seemed to be in every corner she looked at.

Before class she saw her running in the hallways to not be late, between classes the girl directed small smiles to her, after classes she practically bouncy while going to the clubs, she even started to give her some tips during training. Jiu should handle it more smoothly, but she couldn't contain the strange feeling that grew inside her when she saw that the girl was sometimes not alone.

Jiu was happy that Yoohyeon had made friends, actually friends who weren’t from the baseball team, she didn't mind seeing her with Jane, a nice girl who participated in the school newspaper, responsible for founding the photography club. The problem was with the other company, Alexa, Jiu had nothing against the girl so she shouldn't call it a problem, but she still felt something different that made her think of that word.

Alexa was the exchange girl, they participated in the same music club as last year, but they had never even talked alone. Jiu couldn't judge her, everything she had seen or heard from the girl was positive. It was just that she was so close to Yoohyeon, closer than Jane or anyone she had seen with the newbie.

"You are jealous" Sua confirmed surprise, a big smile growing on her face.

"I really don't know why I said that to you, let's just focus on finishing this exam before the teacher throws us out of the classroom".

Jiu had made a big mistake of starting to tell the story during a chemistry class that she and Sua were doing a double exam, but she had spent about five minutes looking at a poster for the movie club festival, which Yoohyeon and Alexa had put on while laughing at something, maybe it was time to finally ask for some help.

"I am between option B or D" Jiu tried to postpone the matter by pushing paper sheet that they should complete for the girl.

Sua rolled her eyes, when she was going to open her mouth to get back to the subject, the teacher stopped near them, asking why they were not focused on the exam.

"We are talking about how easy this question is, of course it is the letter B" Sua smiled, trying to look as innocent as possible while pointing to the question Jiu had spoken about earlier.

"If it were easy you would be choosing the right alternative" The teacher said before turning around and leaving.

Sua smiled victoriously at her friend, marking the letter D before whispering that the subject ‘ _Yoohyeon’_ was not dead.

And how Jiu wished the subject ‘ _Yoohyeon’_ to be dead. She had managed to evade the subject and Sua for the rest of the week, but Sua was strong in the final of the first baseball championship of the year, sitting in the stands with an ambitious smile in her direction.

The worst part is that there was something more in the stands, not far from her friends, Yoohyeon's friends were sitting, Jiu recognized Jane and her camera, she was always at school games, she also recognized Alexa. With all her enthusiasm, which was quite noticeable since she had started watching the games, with the team shirt written Yoohyeon on the back and the excited screams every time the girl eliminated someone or scored points.

Jiu tried to pay attention to the game, leaving her eyes away from the stands or the girl behind her who had a big smile on her face. Focusing only in the game until the referee finished it and finally gave them the victory, Jiu smiled looking at the score and the difference between they and the other team.

"Hey, we won" Siyeon broke her vision, pulling her to the celebration circle that took place in the middle of the field.

She let herself be carried away by the chains of embraces that happened, she hadn't even noticed that Yoohyeon had hugged her until the girl separated. Jiu had seen that smile before, the bigger smile that she always gave when she won, it was good to see that smile now being favorable to her.

When they won a final it meant that the whole school was invited to the pizzeria, it also meant that someone was going to have a party, which the coach always pretended he didn't know was happening. For the first time, Yoohyeon sat next to Jiu in the pizzeria, in front of her with the rest of the team and not at a separate table with the rest of her friends, Jiu liked that feeling.

The next day, Sua made sure to wake her up too early for a Sunday morning, but she looked like she wasn't going to change her mind, so Jiu gave up sitting on the bed while watching who was in her room. Siyeon was already comfortable in front of the computer and Handong was walking to the window to open the curtain.

"Sua, it’s too early for whatever you are thinking, why are you all here?".

"Because they were the only ones I managed to wake up to be here" Sua went to her girlfriend taking her away from the computer until she had turned to all the others "Jiu likes Yoohyeon".

Jiu snorted, trying to lie down and hide under the cover, maybe if she pretends to be dead the others will finally leave.

"You can't hide from this" Handong took the initiative to pull the blanket away until she had nothing left to hide.

“Do you like Yoohyeon? The same Yoohyeon from our team that you hated?” Siyeon looked surprised, but she could still see a smile hidden there.

"I don't like her, I just commented that I thought Alexa was very close to her".

"I waited almost two months for this moment, since the moment you met, so don't just tell they half of what you told me".

"I kind of hoped for that too, so tell it all" Handong looked excited as she threw herself next to her on the bed, ruining Jiu's plan to run out as soon as she could.

"I said that I thought they were very close, and that Yoohyeon is indeed beautiful".

There was a silence in the room, Jiu prepared for the storm to come, she knew that no matter how many people were there the whole group would soon know, and they would make that a big deal, just as Sua was doing.

"I'm in, I don't know what your plan is, but I'm in" Siyeon broke the silence by turning to her girlfriend with an expression of surprise.

"Of course, you are, that's why you're here".

Jiu sighed in defeat, beating Sua was difficult, beating her entire group of friends was more difficult.

She couldn't breathe even when the three of them left, since Sua's secret plan was still floating over her head, she spent the morning and most of the afternoon watching the three talking in secret between them.

When night felt Handong came to pick her up, she still remembered Sua saying that this was for her not to run away at the last minute. Being in the same car that Handong reminded her of the first game, with her friend framing her for being an idiot with the newbie, she didn't imagine that a little more than a month later she would be in the same situation, being framed because of the same newbie.

"So..." Handong dragged her word until the girl looked at her, a big smile on her face as she spoke.

"I don't like her that way".

"I know".

"So why did you agree with Sua's stupid plan?"

"Why wouldn't I agree?" The party music could already be heard approaching, Jiu rolled her eyes as she remembered the words of her team saying it was going to be a small party, she was already trying to see herself at the director's office the next day to explain the situation.

"Because it's crazy".

"Just because you don't like her that way doesn't mean you two can't get close, it's been over a month and all you do is exchange half a dozen words".

"Why are you so invested in getting us closer?"

"Because you two are my friends, I want you to be friends too, I'm sure you would get along, will I have to call Bomi to ask her for help?"

Jiu let the matter drop after that, it was getting harder and harder to beat any of her friends.

Handong stopped the car not long after in the only spot she had found, there were still some streets away from Seunghee's house, she hoped that her teammate's house wouldn't be so bad after the party, but judging by the amount of car this would be a difficult task. In fact, it was not difficult to find the party, the music was extremely loud, you could see the colored lights flashing through the window, and both the interior and the area in front of the house were full of people.

Jiu found herself lost in the sea of people as soon as she put her feet inside it, Handong had disappeared in the first few seconds too, running towards Elkie and Tzuyu on the other side of the room. She looked around trying to find someone as lost as she was, bad decision, her eyes found Yoohyeon sitting on the stairs to the second floor, playing a card game with four more people, she turned around going in the opposite direction before the girl could notice that she was there too.

She bumped into Sua and Siyeon dancing in the middle of the room, saw Gahyeon outside the house, near the pool laughing loudly with her friends, she was even sure she had seen Yubin kissing someone in the darkest part of the living room.

The house was too crowded and she was too sober to handle it all, the fact that she had to drive her friends home in the end didn't help her much. She stayed in the kitchen for a while, trying to look as social as possible before leaving the middle of the riot, with the last packet of potatoes in her hands she had found, and a can of soda that she had to look through the vodka bottles to find.

When Yeji finally said goodbye to her, after begin dragged by Ryujin to the dance floor, Jiu let herself out of the house, luckily the backyard was not so crowded, she took a deep breath, letting the fresh air embrace her as she walked to the pool, letting her legs get wet while sitting on the edge. She was so focused on the water that she didn't see it when someone sat next to her, only noticed it when she realized that a new pair of legs had come into view, she regretted looking up when she saw who was sitting there.

"You are not enjoying the party" Yoohyeon was the first to break the silence, Jiu wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question, so she just kept watching the girl "why aren’t you with your friends?".

"There is a lot of people in there, and I need to write some script about what to say to the principal tomorrow, since this party has already passed the limit he tolerates".

"Well, what you do outside of school is up to you".

"It's not like that when it comes to the school team that has the highest success rate" Jiu watched the girl getting confused, she smiled at that "Noticing any privileges you had in your old school?"

"We didn't have parties like this, but nobody ever said anything about not being able to do something like this party".

Jiu took some time to be silent, just looking at the girl, until Yoohyeon gave an embarrassed smile and turned forward. Jiu could still see between the lights hitting the girl's face that she had blushed.

"Maybe they do, but you don't know, it could happen if your name is bigger than your team" Jiu tried to sound as soft as possible, she didn't want those words to sound like another punch.

"Maybe".

“What was the reason you came here? I mean, I'm not trying to kick you out or say that I don't want you on the team...”.

"But you don't want" Yoohyeon cut her off while looking back at her.

"Come on, we're past that stage" Jiu rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face as she brushed her shoulder lightly with the girl's, making Yoohyeon smile the same as always "What I mean is that... I'm sure you received several proposals, why here?”.

"How do you know that your school did not give the best proposal?"

"Hunch".

Yoohyeon gave a little laugh, again someone looking like it knew more than Jiu did. She didn't answer the original question, she just watched the party going on inside the house again, Jiu watched her.

"Come on, it's impolite not to answer the question."

"My father studied here for a year, he was surprised by the invitation the school made, I thought it would be cool to stay here for a while".

"So it was just because it was cool?"

"No, it wasn't just that, but you talk like your school was the worst on the list, you guys were always good," Yoohyeon turned to her, her cheeks flushing again when she saw that Jiu hadn't taken her eyes off her "I thought it would be cool to win a championship with your team, you said what you wanted to win before going to college at the beginning of the semester ”.

"You sound so confident, speaking so calmly about winning championships."

"There is nothing wrong with being confident, doing things with confidence is better than doing it with fear, and if you demonstrate it the right way your opponent will be shaking " Jiu tried not to think about the many times that the smile or Yoohyeon's confidence during the games had driven her crazy, it was as if she were the living example of the girl's words "and you shouldn't treat yourself as if you were the worst player in the league".

"What?".

“There's always something in your voice that feels like you put yourself down, like I'm the big star and you're just an amateur player in a neighborhood league, you're more than that, my old team studied you, Kim Jiu it was always the star of this team, that will not change”.

Jiu let a smile grow on her face, she knew it was her turn to blush, since her heart had accelerated considerably. Yoohyeon seemed happy with that, as if she managed to achieve something she wanted.

"We had acronyms for all the players, yours was CJ, cute Jiu, I know it sounds a little cliché, but..." Yoohyeon's voice was hard to hear, it was as if she had been telling a secret or something embarrassing.

"You are always smiling and now you tell me you join the team because it's cool" Jiu commented, trying to save herself from that situation.

"I learned that life should be fun, that you will always find something in the middle to make it complicated, but as long as you are having fun and enjoying your time things were worth it, I just demonstrate it smiling”.

"You sound very mature".

"Believe it or not, but I'm making a biggest effort right now to sound mature".

Jiu let the subject die and the silence fell on them, she just didn't know how to continue with that. Yoohyeon was the first to break eye contact, looking back at the party, Jiu thought it would be too weird for her to be watching her, so she decided to look at her feet in the water.

"I answered your questions" Yoohyeon spoke again, inside of her Jiu knew that something she didn’t want to hear was about to come "if you are saying that things are fine with us about the first problem, then what is this time? Because I'm sure something is going on inside your mind”.

There it was, Jiu was sure she had stopped breathing when the question was asked, there was no way to tell the girl what was going on, how could she say that she was weird because she felt Yoohyeon's new friend was very close her? It didn't make sense, none of that situation really made sense, so she should get out of there as soon as possible.

She got up quickly, not caring about the dizziness she had gotten from doing the action, she grabbed the shoe next to her, trying to think of some excuse to get out of there, so as not to look at the confused girl who was looking after her.

"I think I saw Siyeon get into some trouble, I have to save her, see you around”.

Jiu didn't stop walking until she was out of sight of the newbie, throwing herself on the sofa closest to Handong, who took her attention away from the conversation she was having to look confused at the girl, not knowing why she appeared out of nowhere, with wet legs and holding her shoes. When Yoohyeon entered the house too, not realizing that she was being watched, but with the same wet legs, only with more dignity, Handong had an idea of what could have happened.

"Did you have fun?" Asked Handong, approaching to speak in her ear.

She didn't answer, just sank further down on the couch.

Jiu didn't see Yoohyeon for the rest of the party, this time it wasn't like she hadn't paid attention, she had really been watching her all night, this time the girl was really gone. She was sure she didn't want to see her at the end of the party, when she was trying to get Siyeon and Sua in Handong's car, who was already sleeping in the front passenger seat, the fact was that Yoohyeon was not alone when she left, it was much better than her, going down the street with her friends, beside her, as always, Alexa.


	5. Signal

The State Championship was very different from the city games that the coach had signed they for. It was very easy to see the difference, it was more than the skill they had, it was the way they acted.

Jiu noticed this in the first game, it was a good team, it had arrived at the nationals two years ago, and it seemed that elimination that time had really changed the way they saw that game. She had noticed the looks and whispers they made towards Yoohyeon, when the game started, they also didn't really want to be careful around her.

In the second inning, after Yoohyeon hit a low ball and run to first base, one of the players received her with a shoulder bump, something she really didn't need, the girl was already at the base and Yoohyeon was already eliminated. As Yoohyeon went back to the bench, Jiu could still see her with a small smile on her face, the girls went towards her worried, she hadn't fallen because of the impact, but still it had been a big blow, the girl just said that she was fine, sitting next to Jiu while watching Siyeon going to hit.

Of course, in the three years of high school league Jiu had already seen some fights, her team had already started some fights, people really took that game seriously, but seeing someone become a target so clearly was something different, it made her uncomfortable seeing everything.

"Is everything okay?" Jiu asked trying to stay focused on the game, since she knew the girl didn't want much attention at that moment.

"It was just a game thing".

"A game thing can hurt".

"Don't worry, if something happens I still have my Hello Kitty bandage with me, you never know when a pretty girl is going to hit me".

Jiu took her eyes off the game quickly, not seeing Siyeon running to second base quickly, then she turning to the bench and pointing at Yoohyeon. She should pay attention to the game, so she could see that her own team was getting into the mess that the opposing team was looking for.

"Was that something to poke at me or was it a disguised compliment?".

"Leader, you should pay attention to the game" Yoohyeon pointed to the field, as if nothing had happened.

Siyeon was about to steal third base, only Yoohyeon had been eliminated at that inning, but the other team liked to play fast, so she would have to be even faster. The coach whispered something Jiwoo before pushing her to hit.

Jiwoo was the third newcomer who had joined the team, a hitter who had spent some training with Yoohyeon, the girl seemed to like Yoohyeon's crazy ideas, so Jiu knew that something planned was coming.

"I taught her this" Yoohyeon looked confident, trying not to move to not attract attention.

She tried to focus on the game again, Jiwoo swung the bat to warm up, then prepared herself at the base. The first throw was a quick one, Jiwoo almost hit it, but she was two seconds late, the judge shouted strike one, the second throw was another fast, but this time too far from the strike zone, ball one. The pitcher was the same since the game started, the stake was already showing signs of tiredness, Jiu knew her well, she had been in the league for two years, she would probably throw an effect ball now. Jiwoo seemed to notice that too, since she started to behave in another way, the pitcher threw the ball, this time Jiwoo did not swing, at the last minute her other hand gripped the other end of the bat, making it stand firm while the ball hit it, the ball bounced on the ground twice before coming to a complete stop, first near the pitcher, then right behind him, stopping near second base.

"Run!" Yoohyeon jumped up, holding on to the small wall that divided the bank and the rest of the bench, pointing at Jiwoo.

That seemed to have caught the attention of the other team, who turned for a few seconds in Yoohyeon direction, before turning their attention to the game, big mistake, they lost precious time with it. The second base player threw herself to catch the ball, turning to first base, but it was too late, the ball was halfway through when Jiwoo threw herself into first base, almost hugging the base before she could be eliminated, the opponent players only remembered Siyeon when she had already reached third base, taking three steps to the home plate, but returning to third base when the coach shouted for her to stay.

"You distracted them" Jiu looked really surprised as she saw the players on the field frustrated with what had happened.

"Well, that was not my idea, my old team always used that move".

“So you were the one who always called attention? This looks familiar”.

Yoohyeon seemed to be even more proud after that comment, puffing out her chest while watching the rest of the game. Jiu secretly thought it was adorable.

Dami was the next to play, trying to make a quick move so that the three could complete the course, luckily Siyeon and Jiwoo had managed to complete, but she had been eliminated while trying to run to second base.

After that inning, the coach had made some modifications, placing Yoohyeon as the receiver, far away from the confusion that could be if she stayed close to one of the girls who ran and didn't want to stop seeing her in front. Which was difficult for the other girls, since they would have to do twice the work to fill the gap, Siyeon had taken her place, but it was not a position she was used to, and she wasn't even that fast as Yoohyeon.

Jiu didn't know if Yoohyeon wasn't used to being a receiver either or if she was just plotting some of her plans that she didn't understand. The girl was making signs that she did not understand, some of the opposing players almost managed to steal bases because she was confused for a few seconds.

She only understood what the girl was trying to do three inning later, before the coach put Yeji in her place for her to rest, sign language, Yoohyeon was spelling something that Jiu was sure had nothing to do with the pitches she had what to do, in fact, she was sure it had nothing to do with the whole game. Jiu really should have gone to sign language classes last year when Handong invited her.

"Hey what do you think you were doing?" Jiu approached her when the inning was over and she was taking off her protection to hit.

"Please don't go back to the home plate about us," Jiu looked at her confused as the girl warmed up to be the next one to hit "I didn't think I have enough Hello Kitty bandages to use if you want to use your force against me again”.

"I won't..." Realizing that the other girls on the team had started to pay attention to the conversation, even though some tried to disguise it, she let the conversation die.

Jiu sat on the bench for a while, watching Yoohyeon hitting the ball off the field, right into a little boy's glove in the stands. They were attentive to any movement of the other team while the girl run the bases, they knew that the coach would not like anything about them getting into a fight, but they also knew that he would like it even less if they did not defend a teammate.

Dami sat next to her after she was eliminated with three strikes.

"Everything's fine, we're ahead" Jiu tried to cheer her up after hearing the girl snort.

"I am not in the best of my days".

"We got your back".

"I know, at least you and Yoohyeon are getting along, you know what humiliation would be on the scoreboard if you two wanted to play cat and mouse again, how was she as a receiver?"

"Terrible, if we are going to leave her in that position again during the games we have to at least teach some of our signals".

"Oh, she knows them, she can see from her normal position on the field".

She changed her look to Yoohyeon, who watched Jiwoo, she seemed extremely proud of how the girl was doing, they must have trained outside the full team's training hours.

"Did you get to see any of the signs?" Asked Jiu, turning her attention back to the game.

"Yes, completely clear".

"And do you know what they mean?".

"Yes, the ones I saw, you should have gone to class with us when Handong invited you".

"And do you know what they mean?"

"Just a few spelled words, I noticed that there was no way you could have understood what she was trying to say, in your situation, I think you would not be able to pitch so well”.

"Situation?".

"Yes, Sua told me".

Jiu felt that the rest of the game she was flushed, she had even thanked mentally for the coach to have put her away from Yoohyeon in the game, this time without being her fault.

When the game was over, Yoohyeon seemed to calm down, voluntarily staying away from the girls of the other teams, Jiu had overheard her talking to Siyeon that it wasn't worth fighting over a game, they had already won, if they fought they would give the victory for the other team somehow. Yoohyeon had even stayed behind in the bathroom for a while, until Siyeon came back saying that the other team's bus was already gone.

Jiu still looked surprised when she saw the girl had stayed behing when she finally got out of the shower, her eyes glued to the floor as Jiu went to her closet to get her clothes.

"It was a good game, Yoohyeon" Jiu said when she was over, motioning for the girl to accompany her out of the bathroom.

"You were very good".

"It could be better if you didn't send me signals outside of baseball".

"Handong said that you know a thing or two about sign languages".

"A long time ago, I really forgot".

"You can still go to some sign classes".

"Classes run into one of my clubs, maybe you should use the signs that we usually use".

“What would be the fun in that? Don’t worry, I don’t intend to stay in the position of receiver, your coach who was too scared by the whole situation, after some time he will understand”.

“I find it kind of difficult to understand that you are the target of this kind of thing, what did you mean by that? I mean, what do the signs mean?”.

Yoohyeon didn't answer, just quickened her pace until she reached the rest of the girls, leaving Jiu behind to shout her name. Jiu tried not to think too much about her friend's wide smile when they saw the scene, but it was kind of hard not to do it when Sua pushed Yoohyeon in her direction before pulling Yeji into Siyeon's car, saying they should try a new car division, to her Handong luck appeared on her side too, whispering that she would go along.

Luckily Handong also sat next to her in the front, Jiu was thinking about what she would do to Sua after all that scene when Yoohyeon got into the back seat, not without first banging her head on the roof as she entered, making Jiu stretch back fast and touch the place where the girl had hit.

"Are you okay?" Asked Jiu as Yoohyeon whimpered.

"It’s fine, it wasn't that strong".

"You better get used to this kind of thing, Yoohyeon may be a great player, but I really don't know how she doesn't fall off every three steps she takes".

Yoohyeon rolled her eyes, but stopped whining, Jiu realized she was in the same position, her body turned back and her hand on the girl's head, when Handong cleared her throat.

She stayed the rest of the way to the pizzeria with her hands stuck to the steering wheel, trying to find some excuse to give it to Sua when Handong told her, maybe trying to convince the girl not to tell the others what had just happened until she had some excuse. Only Handong had other plans, practically running to Sua and whispering what had happened in the car.

Things changed after that, not between Jiu and Yoohyeon, but Sua had become more and more motivated by her plan, and it made the other girls as motivated as well. So almost two weeks later, she found herself on a Friday afternoon at school, one of the Fridays the school left open so that clubs could hold their events at the school's film festival, but the rest of the kids could stay home.

She was supposed to be home, preparing her bags for the trip for the next game, for the state championship, a trip of almost five hours, a trip she didn't even know what she was going to pack in her suitcase.

"I bet you didn't pack your bags either," Jiu said to Siyeon, who was leaning against one of the walls outside the movie club.

"No, but Sua said she would help me if I helped to hold you back when you tried to run away".

"You know she won't help, right?"

"I know, but this still looks like a lot of fun".

Jiu would even answer if it wasn't for the movie club door opening, telling everyone to come in. Yoohyeon was one of the first thing that Jiu put her eyes on when they entered, standing behind a table with some food, Bora held Siyeon so the girl wouldn't go straight to the table, whispering that they should go last, Jiu tried not to pay attention whatever the girl was planning, she also tried not to pay attention to the other girl on the team, focusing only on the posters of the films they were going to show.

"Hey, you guys came" Bora insisted on pulling them to the table when everyone else was already seated, Yoohyeon looked excited when she saw the three approaching.

"Of course, we would come" Siyeon was more concerned with all the food she could buy than in the conversation, Bora seemed to have entered the same flow, but she could still see that she kept her ears open for the conversation between them.

"The other girls said they will do their best to get here in time for the third film, some won't be able to come because of the clubs themselves, Dami it’s still looking for a new bag, Siyeon stole hers last year" Jiu took the lead in the conversation, Yoohyeon turning all her attention to her since the other two were helping themselves.

"I'll give it back" Siyeon managed to say as she tried to buy more than she could handle and Bora tried to stop her.

"You said that a long time ago" Jiu replied.

"Here, it's to pay mine, you can keep the change for your project, Jiu will pay hers for exposed me" Siyeon stretched out a note while trying to carry things up, Yoohyeon was quick to accept payments before she could drop something and make a big mess.

Jiu laughed when Siyeon passed her trying to look angry, Bora right behind helping to carry the rest.

"And what would your project be?" Jiu asked if turning to her again.

"It is the club’s project for the end of the year, we intend to make a festival, but this time with our own films".

"In that case, I'm going to buy some things too".

Jiu tried not to get caught at the end of the festival, when she purposely got lost from her friends to go back to the movie club, buying the leftover things and rushing to her car afterwards, maybe giving a few more bills to pay for everything to the first year girl, than making the girl promise to not tell she was the one to buy everything.

Every attempt to hide worked until the next day, when her backpack was full of everything she had bought from the club, because she had spent everything she had for the trip, feeling obliged to have to eat snacks and whatever you can steal from Siyeon and Dami. It was okay, until Siyeon’s head appeared in the front seat, leaning over and asking if she had anything for her to eat.

"Sure, what do you want?" Jiu opened the backpack, not thinking about it too much, too late, Siyeon stretched even further, pulling the backpack towards her "Siyeon, this is not polite".

"Is this all from the movie club?" Asked Siyeon while filling her hands.

Another head emerged from Siyeon's side, Yoohyeon looking confused at what was happening in the back seat, looking sleepy as if someone had just woken her up.

“Oh, so it was you who buy all that? Yoohyeon was talking to me about the club’s mistery” Siyeon commented before returning to the front, satisfied with everything that had happened.

Yoohyeon also returned to the front, not before Jiu had the opportunity to see her flushed cheeks. Dami, who was at her side, gave a small laugh, catching the eye of Jiu, who finally woke up and closed the backpack on her lap.

"Too late," Dami said, closing her eyes to go back to sleep. "Sua will definitely know about this, it's not like Siyeon would try this away from her."

"Right, this is what I was not looking for...".

"Besides, I saw your sign language book in the backpack, if I saw it she saw it too."

Jiu just sank further into her seat, she was already wondering if she should go back with her original plan to ignore the girl until her shame passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that this chapter was a bridge chapter, just showing a few things that will be important to the story later, I hope it doesn't feel like a boring chapter.


	6. Ball one

Fortunately, the next team they faced had nothing against Yoohyeon, benefit of never having competed in the national championship, the team took the opportunity to play to its full potential, which made the game a lot easier. Jiu threw to the back of her mind the disappointment of not being able to see Yoohyeon’s signal again, she had spent a long time trying to learn.

"Pizza here is not that good" Yoohyeon commented from the side of the table.

They had chosen a pizzeria near the hotel, too tired to look for a better place, all secretly wanting to get out of the city as soon as possible.

“There is a restaurant nearby, do you want to go there? I can show you” Jiu leaned over the table a little so she could look at the girl.

"No, no need, I won't break the tradition" Yoohyeon smiled at her.

Siyeon gave a small laugh beside her, raising her eyebrows at Dami, who was in front of them. Jiu looked at her own pizza, knew what the girls' reaction meant, hoped that no one else at the table would understand too, so she tried not to pay attention to other reactions.

"You should try to talk to her" Siyeon whispered to her, Dami and Yoohyeon were walking a little further behind them, playing some game of counting cars.

The four of them had stayed behind in the restaurant, having to make their way to the hotel alone. She knew it had been some secret strategy of Sua even though she was away, there was no reason why Siyeon would have allegedly lost a ring and asked for help just for the other three, but she put it aside, waiting to see what kind of plan was up.

"I talk to her".

"No, Jiu, I'm not talking the way you talk, I'm talking about something else, maybe to give you a hint that you're kind into her".

"I never said I was into her ...".

"Are we back at phase two, denial?"

"It's just... I don't know what to do."

"Talk to her," Siyeon looked back, a smile growing on her face, Jiu felt a shiver down her spine, it was the same smile that Sua gave her since she started her _‘I'll help you’_ plan.

"Siyeon...".

“Hey, Dami! Do you remember that time you beat me in a race? I am ready for my rematch” Siyeon shouted before she started running, leaving Dami no choice but to run after her while shouting that it was not fair.

Jiu kept walking at the same speed, trying not to think that her friends had really left her with the newbie, but Yoohyeon didn't seem to like the idea of being left behind, speeding up the pace until they were side by side. They walked in silence until they arrived at the hotel, Jiu was disappointed in herself for not being able to follow Siyeon's advice, they had talked before, why when they were alone, she felt so nervous?

"Hey, did you know that they have a pool?" Yoohyeon broke the silence, Jiu was happy to feel that she was not the only one uncomfortable with the silence.

"Yes, I can see it from my window, but it doesn't look so clean".

"Maybe you got the wrong impression, let's take a look".

Jiu followed the girl, trying to find anything that would make her stay longer with her. She took a deep breath, pulling the first subject that came to her head.

"Don't your parents care about you traveling so much?" Jiu asked as Yoohyeon tried to open the small door that was around the pool area, which was probably against some hotel rule, she hoped her coach would not receive a complaint the next day because of them.

"No, I mean, they practically moved to the other side of the country because of me."

"They must be proud”.

“Yep, I'm the first sportsperson that worked in the family,” Yoohyeon laughed as if an internal family joke “My family always goes to the state and national finals, maybe you will see them” Yoohyeon stood up, opening the door with a proud smile on ers face, as if it that had no chance of being illegal.

"I hope so".

"By the way, my dad doesn't hate you" Jiu looked at her confusedly as she entered the pool area "Siyeon told me that you thought that, he understood that it was a game thing".

"But it wasn't a game, it was just me being an idiot...".

"Even so".

Yoohyeon stepped forward in front of her, walking around the pool. It was certainly not so clean, the water was more greenish than normal, there were some leaves and about three packages floating. Jiu remembered the car episode, when the other girl hit her head as she entered, she opened her mouth to tell the girl to move away from the edge, but it was too late, in a moment Yoohyeon was playing on the edge and the other she was unbalanced and fall into the water.

"Cold! Cold! Cold!" Yoohyeon repeated as she moved quickly to get out of there.

Jiu hurried to see if the girl was okay, reaching out to help the girl to get up, It was too quick for her to react, in a moment she was stretching her hand to help her up, then she saw it in about two seconds something changing in Yoohyeon's eyes. She didn't really have time to get away, Yoohyeon was faster than she was while holding her arm and pulling her to the same destination as her.

The water was actually really cold, Jiu stood in the same place that she emerged, trying to get back to her sense to get out of the water as soon as possible, but changed her mind when she saw Yoohyeon coming towards her. The girl laughed as if someone had told the best joke in the world, helping her to clean up the mess that had become her hair.

"Yoohyeon..." Jiu whined.

"Sorry, sorry" Yoohyeon slowly stopped laughing, but still had a big smile on her face. She would probably tell Siyeon what had happened, forming a circle against her.

"I said the pool was dirty, even the smell is horrible."

Jiu was going to move, she was really going to get out of the pool, but when she stopped to pay attention to the other girl she stopped, Yoohyeon was two steps away, her look was so warm that it made her comfortable. The cold made Jiu more awake, so she couldn't use the excuse that she had no control over herself, she knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew exactly what she felt at that moment, so she just accepted her destiny, taking the steps towards the girl until the distance was minimal, her hands on Yoohyeon's face doing the rest of the work of bringing her closer.

Yoohyeon's lips were as cold as water, maybe it was only a few seconds of kissing, but somehow it gave the feeling that it was wrong, which was proven once again when Jiu felt hands on her belly pushing her away, she took a few steps back trying to balance herself. Yoohyeon's face stared at her in surprise, her mouth open, her eyes wide and her cheeks red.

"Jiu, I..." Yoohyeon couldn't speak on the first try, taking a few steps back "I have to go".

Jiu stayed in the same place for a few moments, long enough for her to see Yoohyeon coming out of the pool and practically running to her room. She didn't stay long there either, staying in a pool of cold, smelly water was not something she wanted.

Dami, with whom she was sharing the room, looked at her confused when she got in the room wet, but Jiu did not give her time to ask or try to make a joke, going straight to the bathroom, spending a long time under the hot water of the shower. Partly because she didn't want to catch a cold and partly because she wanted to try to forget what had happened.

In fact, she didn't say anything the rest of the night, Dami just looked at her worried from a distance when she didn't receive an answer to what happened, she knew very well that she had already sent a message to the others.

She was the first to leave the rooms, sitting next to the bus door in the parking lot. She didn’t know if she was lucky or unlucky, the first person who arrived was not Yoohyeon, but the lady who was at the hotel reception, and seeing her looking pity on her, the lady had certainly seen what had happened last night.

"Good morning" Jiu stood up, trying to appear as polite as possible when she had barely slept the night before.

"Good morning miss," the woman smiled at her, Jiu felt a shiver run down her spine when she saw that the smile was even more pity "you know, the pool is forbidden from six o'clock, and there is a fee for using it".

"Oh, I'm sorry, I really didn't know, the price will be covered by the coach".

“No need to worry, I think you've been through a lot,” there it was pity it again, Jiu just wanted to go back to her house without having to go through another humiliation “young love, don't worry too much, she seemed more surprised than something else" the lady looked over her shoulder, seeing some other girls from the team approaching with the driver "well, I have to check out you guys, maybe you should try something less aggressive".

Jiu was happy that the lady left, even happier when the driver opened the bus door and she could sink in her seat, leaving two packages of snack in Siyeon's place so that the girl wouldn't turn to her in the middle of the trip. It seemed like it was a series of events made especially for her to be humiliated, luckily her body let her sleep before the other girls got on the bus, maybe trying not to go through another event like that, even more lucky was that when Siyeon woke her up half of the bus had already been left at home, Yoohyeon being one of them.

She just took all the time out of the rest of the day to hide under the covers, not even showing up when her mother asked her out to dinner, making any excuse that she was too tired even to get out of bed. Surely her mother knew she was lying, she was already used to trips to games longer than those, but she let it go, leaving a plate beside her bed and giving her a kiss on the head before leaving.

When school day arrived, her plan was to stay away from Yoohyeon, which was really easy since the girl did the same, trying not to even pass her in the halls. But her friends realized, it was very difficult not to notice that something had happened, but when she didn't answer the first five times they asked what had happened, plus the fact that she was using short phrases for everything, they let it die for the rest of the day, looking like they were stepping on eggs as not to poke whatever was going on in her head.

Luckily there was no training the day after a game, which meant that she practically ran through the streets to get home as quickly as possible.

Sua and Handong were already waiting at her house, a bag between them as they leaned on the front door. Jiu didn't say anything, just passed them, leaving the door open for them to enter, she went straight to the bathroom, took another bath of hot water, since she was scared of cold water after what happening, to try to pace herself on the agenda that was ready happening.

When she left the bathroom, the computer table in her room was already covered by the food the girls had brought, Handong pulled her to sit in front of her on the bed, also pulling the towel so she could dry the girl's hair, Jiu finally allowed herself to breathe.

"So...". Sua started, sitting in front of the other two.

"Take your time" Handong corrected her.

"I kissed Yoohyeon".

Sua's eyes widened, although Jiu could not see Handong she knew she had the same reaction as the other, her hands stop drying her hair for a few seconds before returning.

"I kissed Yoohyeon and she rejected me".

"How did it happen?" Handong took the initiative to speak as Sua seemed to be the most shocked by everything that happened.

Jiu told what happened in a distant way, looking at the ceiling of the room, just like the night of the kiss, for fear that if she looked anywhere else she would find something she did not want.

"Oh dear" Handong squeezed her shoulder, she knew her friend had the best of intentions, but the pity in her voice made her shiver.

"Too soon" Sua whispered, not knowing what was the best way to continue that.

"I was stupid again".

"Don't say that, Jiu" Sua approached her, taking her hands to get her attention "everything will be resolved, ok? Siyeon went to Yoohyeon's house to help with some project of their club, I sent Gahyeon along, to help the newcomer to speak”.

"Sua!" Jiu finally took her eyes off the ceiling to look furiously at her friend.

"Hey! I didn't know that something like this had happened, Siyeon just told me that you guys were alone and soon afterwards, you were all weird”.

"She's just helping," Handong tossed the towel over the girl's shoulder when she finished drying her hair, getting up from the bed before the two started any argument for something silly "let's get your head out of this for now".

Jiu didn't really think about what had happened in the next few hours, precisely because she didn't think about anything, hanging up completely while accompanying her friends on whatever they wanted, from movies to the almost banquet they bought. Luckily, she didn't dream about Yoohyeon that night either.

Everything was going well, at least in Jiu's mind, the days went by like lightning, the training was going well, it didn't even seem that there was anything strange between the two stars of the team. She had even spent time with the counselor to talk about college, some projects that she was supposed to do were already beginning to face her in every corner of her bedroom.

Only Yoohyeon seemed to be trying to break that circle again, Jiu noticed everything, how could she not notice? The anxious looks in her direction, every time the girl started walking towards her, but changed direction at the last minute or clearly changed the subject that was not the original. Oh no, Jiu didn't want to have that conversation, that was bad, she had understood the rejection first, she didn't need a second try.

"Siyeon, just tell me what you know" Sua mumbled on a day when the three were at the library.

Jiu knew it had been a bad idea to invite the other two to start doing projects for the colleges together. She couldn't pretend to be surprised when she found herself in that scenario, caught between watching the two of them having a conversation/fight of whispers, all because Siyeon and Gahyeon refused to say what had happened at Yoohyeon's house.

"I can't speak, it would be wrong" Siyeon tried to focus on the book, even switching places to see if it improved. Jiu knew that the discussion was not about what had happened between her and Yoohyeon, it was more about the fact that it was the first time the two had kept a secret out of the reach of the others since they met, and neither really knew what to do in that situation.

"I'll fix it all up, if it means you're finally going to stop all of this" Jiu ended the fight before they were kick out from the library.

"Lucky you" Sua mumbled again, finally turning her attention to some book, Siyeon just laughed as she kissed her cheek, Sua's cheeks flushed with contact, meaning they were more than just fine.

Jiu got up leaving there to get another book. She didn't know how she was going to fix it, in fact, she hadn't said when she was going to do it, so she could push it as far as possible, what she didn't count on was that she wouldn't be the first to approach, let alone Yoohyeon , but Jane, who appeared while she was taking a book, leaning on one of the shelves smiling towards her.

"Hi, Jiu".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know if I do a chapter from Yoohyeon's perspective, or just stay with Jiu having the perspective.


	7. Hear me out

"Jane" she replied.

Jiu tried to pay attention to the books in her hand and not to the girl who approached her, even though the books she was taking were not the ones she wanted.

"Getting ready for college application?" Jane wondered looking at the books of advanced classes, it was clear to see that the girl was testing the waters before reaching the point that she wanted ""you are quite early".

"I know, I just want to get this in order before the nationals".

"So you're confident in the nationals" Jane smiled at her.

"You are friends with Yoohyeon, I am sure she is the most confident player I have ever met".

"Yeah, the only thing Yoohyeon is confident about is baseball" Jane sighed, looking around to see if anyone was around before talking again "in fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about".

And there it was, Jiu had no way to escape, she knew that very well, so she took a deep breath before turning completely to the other girl, trying not to think about the books that started to weigh on her arms.

"And what would it be?".

“How long will this game of running away from each other be? It is getting boring having to be dragged by Yoohyeon around the school because she wants to hide from you”.

"So you know?".

"Come on, Jiu, I'm sure your friends already know what's going on," Jane seemed to look between the books on the shelf where Sua and Siyeon were sitting, one of them was already looking around for her friend "I just I came to give you some words of enthusiasm for you to go talk to her soon, nothing bad will happen if you take your step soon, because we know that she will not take the first step ”.

"Ok" Jiu still looked suspicious as she saw the girl walking away.

"Maybe I'll even tell you that she's going home early today, without a club, maybe you can catch up with her."

Jiu stayed in the same place watching the girl leave, until the alarm went off in the distance, she looked at the clock on the wall. If Yoohyeon was leaving early, just like Jane had told her, she should run to get to meet her.

She hurried over, going to the table that Sua and Siyeon were waiting for, leaving the books she had picked up there and taking her things, along with the only two books she was sure had taken right.

"Can you put the books back for me?" Jiu asked as she put the backpack on her back and pulled the two books against her chest.

"Sure, did something happen?" Sua asked worriedly as she set things on the table.

"Yes, nothing to worry about, I need to go after something”.

"Or is it someone?"

Jiu ignored Siyeon's question and left, running down the halls of the school, hoping that she wouldn't get caught and get a few days of detention, because that would also mean she wouldn't find the girl that day. Luckily, she didn't bump into anyone but a few students who greeted her, even more fortunate when she managed to see Yoohyeon heading towards her bike.

"Yoohyeon!" The girl stood up confused as she watched Jiu approach "I managed to find you before you go".

“Are you okay? You were running, are we going to have training today? I thought It were suspended”.

"No, that's not it, I wanted to talk to you".

"Oh" Yoohyeon's cheeks flushed quickly, at least Jiu wouldn't need to explain to the girl what she wanted to talk about.

"Can we go somewhere?"

"My mom is waiting for me, if you want..." Yoohyone pulled the bike out of the parking space, climbing right afterwards "I think you still know the way".

"I can take you if you want, I can even bring you tomorrow, I'm sure your bicycle will not be stolen".

"I like my bike too much to leave it here, I won't run away again, don't worry, I won't make you wait too, I can be very fast on my bike".

Jiu just laughed going towards her car, there was no way to beat the girl. Still, she made a point of following Yoohyeon closely, not for fear of the girl running away, there really was no way that could happen, but just out of care.

She let Yoohyeon go ahead, showing her the way she already knew, her speed reduced, but being careful not to get in the way of any car. Even so, she received a few honks on the way.

"The police are going to stop you like that" Yoohyeon waited for a while until she could pedal by the car window "following a high school student so closely."

"I am a high school student too".

"I'm a cop's daughter" Yoohyeon laughed when she saw Jiu holding the wheel harder when she mentioned her father "he doesn't hate you, I already told you that, but anyway, do you want to race?".

"I'm in a car, Yoohyeon".

"I'm really fast on a bike, Jiu".

Jiu just let the girl go in the front, making so much effort to pedal faster than the car. She was happy when she saw the girl's big smile when she arrived at Yoohyeon's house, and saw her storing the bike in the garage. Even happier when she didn't see the police car in front of the house.

"My mom is home," Yoohyeon commented after opening the door, Jiu didn't know if she should follow her around the house, but with small steps she followed her into the kitchen.

"Hi, darling" Jiu watched from the kitchen door as a woman pulled Yoohyeon into a strong hug, sinking a kiss on her cheek while the girl complained "I didn't know you were going to leave school early today".

"I have no training today".

"Great, so you can help me with the yard, I told your dad to fix the grass two weeks ago."

"Actually," Yoohyeon disengaged herself from her mother's arms and looked at Jiu, the girl's presence finally being realized "I need to talk with Jiu about something".

Yoohyeon's mother seemed to be even happier when she noticed the girl's presence, walking towards her and also pulling her in for a hug, Jiu was surprised, but she responded quickly, she knew her cheeks were red before the woman squeezed them.

"Mom, don't embarrass her" Yoohyeon pulled her mom away from the girl.

"I'm just getting to know your friend, I already hear a lot about you".

"Oh really?" Jiu was even more embarrassed by the possibility that Yoohyeon had talked about her to her mother, and even more by the possibility of the woman knowing what had happened.

"Of course, I still get a little lost with so many schools that Yoohyeon has to play against, especially since there are others now too, but I remember the big names very well".

Jiu felt stupid for having thought of any other reason for the woman to know her other than that obvious.

"Mom, we're going up now" Yoohyeon seemed to save her, passing by her mother, giving Jiu a bottle of water and pushing her lightly towards the stairs.

"Well, I was going to suggest we go out to dinner, but now that your friend has come to visit us, I'm going to cook something for you guys".

Before Jiu could say anything Yoohyeon had already taken her away, rushing her up the stairs.

Yoohyeon's room was something she expected, she sure had shelves with all the competition trophies she had won, the only thing different was that she had a lot more trophies and medals than she expected, some even from others sports.

"I like to compete," Yoohyeon commented while Jiu had a running gold medal in her hands "I tried other sports until I really settled on baseball".

“Is there a reason for that? I mean, to decide for baseball”.

"It was the most fun, I think it chose me before I chose it, since when I was three and I won my first baseball bat".

Jiu turned to the smiling girl, Yoohyeon indicated for her to sit next to her on the bed. Bed which had a cover with drawings of dogs all over it. Jiu decided to sit on the other end of the bed, far enough away for her to be able to have some control of the situation she was in.

"Sorry about my mom, she gets excited when she sees that I have new friends".

“Did you used to not have friends? You always seemed to be very popular”.

“Having admirers is different than having friends, I was always very shy, my friends at the other school were basically from the team, that was one of the reasons for my parents to agree with the idea of changing status, maybe here I had friends from other places”.

"What was the other reason?"

“There were people who didn't like me over there,” Yoohyeon said as if nothing to worry about “anyway, they were really surprised when I brought the video game club here, when Siyeon showed up here for the third time, my mom even had cookies for her”.

"This is my second time here, does that mean I get cookies if I come again?"

"I'm sure my mom is already making cookies for you now."

Jiu laughed, she wished she had been keeping talk about things like that, but Yoohyeon changed her gaze as soon as her laugh died, taking on a serious expression while waiting for her to start talking.

"I'm sorry for kissing you, it was a rough decision, I shouldn't have done something like this without your permission".

"I'm sorry for running, I was a kind of coward, I just didn't know what to do, it was the first time that something like this happened to me".

"No need to worry, it was all my fault, but when you say it was the first time it doesn't mean that...".

"No," Yoohyeon laughed, Jiu allowed herself to relax a bit, somehow things were right between them "you didn't steal my first kiss, it was the first time someone stole a kiss from me".

"Great... I mean... The part that it wasn't your first kiss" Yoohyeon just smiled even more at her.

"But why did you do it?"

And there was the question she was most afraid of, apologizing for the kiss was by far the easiest task of all, even easier than having to meet the girl. She took a few moments to think about the answer she could give, Yoohyeon waited patiently for her.

"I think I like you in a way," Jiu confessed, somehow Yoohyeon looked surprised, as if they hadn't kissed in a filthy pool "I mean, you are beautiful, funny, even though you are extremely confident and talented on the pitch, she’s also silly and clumsy out of the pitch, it’s good to have you around, I feel like I give more than my best on the pitch, and I can have more fun out of it when you’re around”.

Jiu took a moment of silence, paying attention to the girl in front of her, Yoohyeon seemed invested in everything she was saying, with no expression on her face, not even confusion or surprise.

“I don't know what came over me when I did that, but I can say that I did it because I really wanted to, it's just that my thoughts about you and what to do with you were so messed up, and you looked so beautiful at that moment... I just... I did it”.

Yoohyeon was silent again, Jiu let her absorb it all, she herself still had a difficult time to understand it all. It didn't take long for Yoohyeon to smile at her, a sweet little smile, stretching out on the bed to hold her hand and pull her to her side.

They sat on the bed for a few minutes, side by side while leaning against the wall. Jiu noticed the stars glued to the ceiling of the room, not holding the smile on her face.

"I don't know what to say" Yoohyeon started after a while.

"I don't know what to say either, I don't even know if I want you to say anything".

"I just need some time to get my mind in order, but it's not like I didn't like the kiss...".

"Is that you telling me that you liked my kiss?".

"Yes".

Jiu took her eyes off the stars to look to the side, Yoohyeon already had her eyes on her. Jiu was sure that everything was fine between them, at least the girl approaching her showed that it was more than fine, but before she could say anything Yoohyeon's father appeared at the bedroom door, for the first time giving a sincere smile towards to her.

“Hi,” he started, looked like he had just arrived at work and was going to change his clothes “I just came to say hi, your mom is making me go to fix the grass now,” he turned to Jiu “yeah, good to see you again, maybe we can talk about your team at dinner”.

"Dad" Yoohyeon said when she saw that the man would not leave there anytime soon "my mom will be mad if she sees you running away again"

"Sure, I'll be going" he smiled at them one last time before leaving.

If Jiu previously thought it was in her head, after that she was sure that Yoohyeon's parents knew what had happened between them. She felt her cheeks flush as she stared at the stars.

"You seem close, I mean you and your parents" Jiu brought up the subject, to try to confirm her suspicions.

"Yes, I don't keep it a secret from them".

Jiu felt her body sink deeper into the bed, she would not be able to escape from there, if she tried to run out of the house not only would she find Yoohyeon's mother, but the girl's father before she could get in the car.

"I remember a little funny situation" Yoohyeon broke her from her thoughts, she didn't know if the girl had detected that she was going crazy, but she thanked her for that "you asked me once why I chose your school".

"Yes, and you got away without the answer".

"Hey, it's a bit of an embarrassing answer, but since we're here talking about you kissing me out of nowhere," Yoohyeon moved to get closer to her, the distance Jiu had made when Yoohyeon's father appeared to be increased "some years ago I saw your team playing, before you were part of the team, when another star of the team was in your position, she was incredible, I had never seen anyone be so confident playing, it seemed that she controlled the whole game without make no effort”.

"Are you talking about Bomi?"

"Yes," Yoohyeon replied with a small voice, embarrassed to have admitted out loud "I went to some games at your school afterwards, it was nice to see that beautiful confident woman being the best player on the field".

"Yoohyone, do you have a crush on Bomi?" Jiu started to move away so she could look at the girl, but Yoohyeon held her arm firmly in place and didn't look at the state she was in because she was telling a secret like that.

"I did in the past, then her girlfriend was always there, it was the first time that someone broke my heart, even though she doesn't even know me".

"She knows you, you are such a big name that even people in college know you."

"Great," Yoohyeon sighed, putting her head on Minji's shoulder "now this is more embarrassment than ever".

Jiu laughed at the girl, leaning her cheek on the top of her head, her eyes still fixed on the stars, seeing that they were not only glued there, but organized in constellations. It was a relief to know that the girl had already felt something like that for someone, even if it was a strange feeling that the person was Bomi.

“Anyway, when your school called me, they didn't seem very confident in the proposal, your principal seemed very nervous about being in a room with other schools with much bigger proposals, but none of that was worth more than closing the cycle, playing at the school that the girl who made me more confident played”.

"Bomi is a good person, it is a good idea that you focus on her".

"I hope this doesn't sound strange to you."

"No, she has a girlfriend, I don't think...".

"I wasn't talking about jealousy" Yoohyeon laughed at her, Jiu was happy that the girl was not able to see her at the moment.

They stayed in that position for a while, talking about things away from the school and the team. Until Yoohyeon's mother yelled for them to come down to help with dinner, Jiu took a few minutes to call her mother to let him know, and a few more minutes to text Sua explaining what was going on, then having to silence the cell phone to let her stop ringing with the 2 messages per second that Sua was sending.

Maybe it was something in Jiu's mind, but dinner was a strange thing, a feeling of discomfort passed through her head all the time, and it was no wonder, she was sitting at a table with the girl she liked and her parents , the girl she had stolen a kiss from, the same girl who said she still didn't know what she was feeling, and of course, her parents, who knew exactly all of this, but kept up their conversation about the baseball team and the change of state they had to make.

It wasn't like she wanted to run from Yoohyeon, but somehow she was relieved when the girl accompanied her to her car, a jar of freshly made chocolate chip cookies in her hand.

"Come on, it's not too late for you to look so worried" Jiu joked as she opened the car's door, but did not enter.

"Hey, I'm showing you that I care about you."

"Don't worry, you don't have to follow me on your bike to be sure."

“I was thinking of taking you there, I'm sure I can take you and I there on my bike” Jiu laughed as she got in the car, Yoohyeon remained in the same place while watching her lowing the windows “hey, I won you in the race, I'm faster than your car".

"Of course you are" Jiu can see a discreet movement in the window of the girl's living room "I think you better go, your parents are going to open the window to hear better soon".

"Sorry about that," Yoohyeon looked quickly at the window before walking away from the car slowly "let me know when you get home".

"Sure".

Yoohyeon was still outside the house until the car was a considerable distance away.

Somehow Jiu was extremely happy, even accept Sua call on her way home, putting on speaker to call the girl.

“Ok, hear me out” Sua said before she could even say something “now that you clear your things out, we are going to the next step, I did the plan all over again to match the situation”.

“Sua…” Jiu tried to say while she stopped the car in front of the house.

“No, hear me out, Now we have to make like you, We already got the hardest thing, that is making you like her”.


	8. Lightning

Jiu was sure she was going crazy. Sua hadn't given up on her plan, in fact, her plan did not involve Jiu's participation, so all she heard were whispers from her friends here and there; the last two games had been exhausting, with also increasingly long journeys; the school's first exams were starting, and college paperwork seemed to get worse and worse, she still couldn't shake the fact that the school counselor had given such a low grade to her first draft of a college essay.

Even Yoohyeon wasn't helping, not that it was her fault, she was just being kind and adorable, making an effort to always be around and give her special attention. That should make Jiu so happy, and she really was happy with that, but she also knew that things were changing again, the crush on Yoohyeon was no longer just that, she was starting to really like her, and that scared her.

One day she found herself trapped in the library, she could no longer keep her head stuck in her negative essay, her exams were still coming, It was in the next week. It seemed that she was also not the only one who had the same idea, all places were almost all occupied, which made her stay at one of the most distant tables, the one with the poor lighting.

"Hey" Jiu took her eyes off the book, blinking a few times until she was sure Yoohyeon had actually appeared in front of her "I didn't see you anywhere today".

"I was studying," Jiu sat up in her chair, watching the girl open some books "and what are you doing here?"

"What? I’m studying too, of course”.

"Don't get me wrong, it's just that I never saw you around here, I was even thinking of showing you the way to the library in case you didn't know" Jiu looked at her with an amused expression, Yoohyeon tried to hide the pink that had appeared on your cheek sinking further into the books.

Jiu left the girl alone, focusing on her own studies, but still taking her eyes in her direction at times. Yoohyeon always looked even more attractive when she was focused on the field, but seeing the girl stay focused on her studies brought her a new sensation.

There was no confidence hidden as in the games, what was hidden there was just the purest confusion. Yoohyeon couldn't be more lost, and it became more apparent each time Jiu looked at her, she even felt guilty about thinking the girl was so cute when she was lost. It lasted until Jiu finally took pity on the poor girl and pulled the exercise paper for her.

"What you got there?" Jiu ran her eyes over the formulas on the paper, not avoiding smiling with familiarity.

Some of the teachers were not very creative when it came to schoolwork, they were all the same every year, seeing the same schoolwork as always was no surprise. She still remembered Siyeon pestering Bomi when she found out, she didn't give up until she had all the girl's work, and she still used them today.

"It's a chemistry exercise, I don't even know what I need this for, I don't want to take any course in college that comes close to this subject".

Jiu smiled at her. She could see some wrong answers on paper, but it was all just mistakes in details, she could see that the girl knew how to do it, she just didn't pay attention to what she was doing.

“This is a very bad excuse,” Jiu laughed at Yoohyeon's indignant expression, signaling the girl to go around the table and sit next to her “lucky you, I'm relatively good at chemistry, and the teacher is repetitive, so half of that you see here will be in the exam”.

Yoohyeon sat next to her, leaning over the table to pay attention to what she explained. In fact, she was doing a good job of paying attention, the problem was that Jiu was not so successful.

And she would certainly blame it on the girl, yes, that was it for sure. Yoohyeon didn't seem to care at all, but in that way Jiu could pay attention to the details of the girl's face, like how cute she looks when she goes from concentrated to confused, or the details of her actions, like when she smiled embarrassed when Jiu pointed out that she was not paying attention, or how she unconsciously kept her hand in contact with Jiu’s arm most of the time.

She didn't want to look weird for noticing it all, but Yoohyeon really seemed to be working hard to make her even crazier. You really can't judge a girl with a racing heart because of the girl she likes, even though she just has started to admit to herself now that maybe her feelings were something like that.

"I think there is no way anymore, I will fail in this exam" Yoohyeon snorted, resting her head in her arms on the table, but her eyes still on Jiu.

"You literally finished your exercises," Jiu laughed, pushing the paper toward her, realizing that her own studies had been thrown aside "what? Are you scary of being cut off from the team?”.

"Scary of being cut off from the team?" Yoohyeon smiled, as if she had heard one of the funniest things in her life, Jiu rolled her eyes, somebody like Yoohyeon would never be cut out, it was more the time of situation that make the school lie about her grades to keep her up "Worse things happened before and I was not cut".

Jiu watched the girl confused, it was not the first time she had mentioned something so open like that, she wondered when it would be the ideal time to ask the girl what had happened at her old school, or if it would be a good idea to ask for others, the last thing she wanted to do was intrude on her personal life and make everything weird.

Yoohyeon stretched. Jiu used that as a sign for her to focus on her own studies, opening the book again on the page she had stopped, but Yoohyeon didn't seem to love the idea of studying, staying in the same place.

"I knew you didn't really come here to study," Jiu kept her eyes on the book, but Yoohyeon made a point of leaning over the table, her head being in one hand while watching her closely.

“Come on, how can you study? This place looks like a cave, it seems like they forgot to put a lamp in that area”.

"They probably forgot".

"What? Don't tell me that your school is so focused on sports that you don't even pay attention to it”.

Jiu watched the girl, she really said things that seemed to touch something inside her, as if something bad had happened, which made Jiu really want to ask what had happened to her. But then Yoohyeon smiled, as if she had a brilliant idea, which was perhaps not very good considering the other brilliant ideas she had had since she arrived.

"I know a place with excellent lighting" Yoohyeon commented with her eyes shining.

"I would love to leave the cave, but I really need to study, and judging by your condition with a chemistry paper, you should do the same."

Yoohyeon pout, like a child being called attention, Jiu smiled at the girl's reaction, taking the lead to push one of the books towards the girl. The moments that Yoohyeon took in silence were very short, only a few seconds until she turned back to the girl, her body turned all the way towards her while she stood on the edge of the chair.

"Let me take you there, at least after the exam week" Jiu tried to ignore the girl, but she seemed to want to use all of her weapons, pulling Jiu's hand between hers, squeezing briefly until the girl looked at her and agreed to go.

It took Jiu long minutes to realize what had happened, only realized when she was alone again at the library table, after having kick out Yoohyeon when she blurted out that she was skipping class to be there. Her eyes fixed on the poor lamp over her head, Yoohyeon had just asked her out.

And that thought prowled her head until the time of training, her steps seemed as vague as her thought, just running the same sentence in her mind until she herself believed what was happening. Luckily she managed to find a familiar person in the middle of the way, Sua was halfway to observe the training in the stands when Jiu grabbed her arm, pulling her in the other direction.

"What's happening? You look a little pale” Sua asked as she watched her friend look around to see if anyone was listening.

"Yoohyeon asked me out".

"Sorry, what?" Her seemed surprised by that, but even so she couldn't control the smile that grew on her face.

"I mean, she asked me to go somewhere, I don't know if it's a date, but..."

"But you want it to be a date," Sua completed the sentence she left on the air "well, she's not a bad person, she knows what you fell about her, so she wouldn't do something like that if she didn't have any intention similar to yours, I mean, she seems to be the type who has emotional responsibility”.

Jiu allowed herself to breathe, a smile growing. Then she paid attention to Sua who is pushing her into training, she no longer seemed surprised, she seemed happy with what had happened, her head held high as if she had a sense of pride.

"You look quite happy," Jiu commented, stopping at the field gate before entering.

"I didn't expect my plan to work so quickly."

"You what?".

“Nothing” Sua made sure to give her a stronger push, before almost running to the farthest place from the stands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up that will be a ratio of 2:1. Two ups and one down, I'm going with writing the up part, I like to write fluffy, but I'm kinda new to the down, so keep up with me with the angst


	9. Strike two

Jiu was going crazy, between studying for exams and project for college, she had managed to sleep for about two hours, she never thought she would be so grateful for not having practice for almost two weeks, the last thing she wanted was to pass out from tiredness in the midfield.

It turns out that when Jiu is tired that way she becomes unbearable, the grumbles random, the harsh responses and the smoky looks. Jiu with extreme sleep was someone you didn't want to mess with, people knew that, except the new girl.

Yoohyeon had the same sweet smile as always, walking almost jumping in the school corridors. It was not weird that she made her way to Jiu, they had really getting closer, they always stopped to say good morning to each other, maybe it is because Yoohyeon was too happy doing something usual that she didn't notice that this time there was something different.

"Good morning," Yoohyeon said extending the words, the smile widening so much that her eyes were like thin lines "I brought cookies for lucky, I know how hard you are studying, I know you don't really need luck, but no you can say no to cookies”.

Jiu looked from the white paper bag, with a small drawing of a dog in the lower right corner, to the girl, she quickly grabbed the bag, stuffing it in her backpack, before dragging her feet to do her first exam of the semester. Yoohyeon followed her closely, that time with a smaller smile and a concerned look.

"Thanks for the cookies" Jiu said, thinking that was what the girl wanted to hear.

“Is everything okay? You look a little tired”.

Jiu stopped walking and turned to Yoohyeon, watching her for a few seconds, Yoohyeon noticed that her look was different from the times she caught her watching her, her eyes were heavier and colder, she blinked twice trying to get used to that new situation, not even when Jiu hated her she looked at her like that.

"Thank you for the cookies" Jiu repeated walking again.

That time Yoohyeon seemed to get the message, at least he was too uncomfortable, and stayed in the same place, choosing to go in the opposite direction, even if he had to take a longer path.

Yep, Yoohyeon really got the message, staying as far away from Jiu as possible as it was what she wanted. And for some reason, it only made Jiu worse, for some reason she was anxious to not be able to see the girl anywhere, her bad mood should have abated, but there she was just the same because she was not meeting the girl that I had treated badly in the morning.

She threw herself on the cafeteria table, trying to take another look around to find what she was looking for, when her eyes stopped on the table that Yoohyeon used to sit on she got even more irritated, her eyes just found Jane, Alexa and more books between them.

"You have no right to be sad about her," Sua commented as she sat across from her, pushing a plate of pasta at her "and you need to eat something."

"I know, I just...".

"You also have no right to be frustrated".

"I know about that too, I just wanted to apologize."

Before Sua could reply, Siyeon sat next to her, a cookie in her mouth as she tried to balance two full trays in her hands. Jiu recognized the chocolate chip cookie, it was the same one that Yoohyeon had given her, she took a look at the bag between classes when she didn't see Yoohyeon going through the corridors as usual.

"Did Yoohyeon give you something too?" Jiu asked, not caring that she didn't seem a little desperate for the answer.

"Ah yes, she said that she helped her mother to make the cookies, I think she helped a little more this time, I suggest you eat it by drinking something, but what counts is the intention".

Jiu fixed her eyes on her plate, she noticed the presence of other people sitting at the table, and the weight of their eyes under it getting heavier and heavier.

After a while she felt another person sitting a little too close to her, just looking up when she felt an arm touching her. Alexa had her back against the table, looking forward a little bit to a more distant point, the same chocolate chip cookie in her mouth, Jiu looked at the confused girl's profile.

"Can I help you?" Alexa just smiled at her, still leaning towards her to continue talking.

"How's your day going?" She asked at a lower volume, as if she were really looking for privacy at a table crowded with people.

Jiu looked a little scared, blinking a few times to make sure that, she didn't like the idea of Yoohyeon telling her about what had happened before, about her little child scene.

"Yoohyeon said you have been studying a lot" Alexa continued when she got no answer.

"And where is her?"

“The school is suffering some visits because of her, I think you must have noticed at least the extra pair of eyes in some of your practice sessions, Yoohyeon told me that this is why they are now 100% closed, but anyway, some of the eyes are good, and can even help you, others are very bad, one of those very bad ones made its first move”.

Jiu was more awake than ever, prepared to jump off the table at any moment. Alexa seemed to find it funny with her reaction, grinning before she stopped herself to get up.

"Yoohyeon is on her way to take an exam right now, but it would be nice if you paid a visit later, for her and you too, obsessing over something is not good, even if it means winning a college scholarship".

Jiu was static in the same place until after Alexa was gone, she could feel the other people at the table still watching her cautiously, she knew they had been paying attention to the conversation, which was even clearer when her eyes met Sua’s and she motioned for her to go.

It wasn't really Jiu's day, she walked all over the school and with no sign of the girl, she even went to check if her bike was still in the same place. Everything was so frustrating, and there was nothing she could do, as soon as her last class was over, her feet were faster than her thoughts, she practically ran to Yoohyeon's side of the bike, staying there until everyone students would leave.

She was already thinking that something terrible had happened to Yoohyeon when Jane arrived, standing in front of her with a worried expression.

"Are you still here?"

"I'm waiting for Yoohyeon" Jiu stood up, cleaning the grass from her pants.

"Oh, she already left, her father came to pick her up before the last class".

Jiu didn't stay long there, turning quickly to get out of there. She had to gather everything she had in order not to speed through the streets, there was no reason to do that, Yoohyeon was safe at home, her father was a policeman, how could anyone be foolish enough to do something?

She still stood in front of the house for a few moments, squeezing the steering wheel as she tried to dial Yoohyeon's number, without any answer she got out of the car, squeezing the object in her fingers as she knocked on the door, her eyes wandering over to the police car until the door opened.

"Jiu" Yoohyeon's father smiled at her, but still stood at the door, Jiu repeated Yoohyeon's words in her mind saying that he didn't hate her until she believed "can I help you?".

"Yes, I came to look for Yoohyeon, I was looking for her at school, but I was told she was already here".

"Oh sure, I think it won't be a problem if I let you up," He finally left her way, indicating for her to enter "you already know the way".

As she went up, Jiu wondered if she would ever be in that house without that weight on her shoulders, in the first situation she was lost in hatred, the second when she simply kissed Yoohyeon out of nowhere and the third was that, standing at her bedroom door, with her hands sunk in her pants pocket as she watched the girl read her biology book.

"Hey" Jiu tests the waters, Yoohyeon turns to her, a warm smile on her face, Jiu notes that it is different from the others.

"Hi, let’s go, come on in, you know you're welcome here".

Jiu still comes in with dubious steps, wondering if she should really be welcome there, but Yoohyeon takes the lead, pulling her to sit on the edge of the bed, their knees meeting briefly when she pulled the chair she used for closer.

"I'm sorry" Jiu says before they get into any conversation that Yoohyeon would have to get her attention.

"Forgive".

"You shouldn't be forgiven me like that."

"But I just did, everyone has their bad days".

"But I shouldn't be treating you that way, I'll make it up to you somehow".

"You always want to compensate me in some way, your presence already compensates me in many ways".

Yoohyeon smiled sadly looking at the fingers on her lap. It was Jiu's turn to be confident that time, pulling her to sit beside her on the bed, one hand clasping Yoohyeon's and the other going up and down her back.

It was becoming more and more remarkable that something had happened.

"I don't blame you for being obsessed with your studies, I'm obsessed with baseball," Yoohyeon started, her eyes so fixed on her hands that they looked like they would never rise "when I started playing I ended up obsessing about winning too , my grades dropped considerably, I was on the field more than I was in classrooms, but nobody ever did anything, I started to draw attention from other teams, the baseball prodigy, because your hatred for me in the beginning I think you should already know that”.

"I didn't hate you...".

“Yes, you hated it, it's okay for you to admit it, we passed that stage when you kissed me,” Jiu felt her cheeks flush, but allowed the girl to continue, her eyes even more firmly on her “well, all the attention started to reflect on the school, things started to change, the school was always undergoing some renovation, the field underwent a revitalization, the grandstands got bigger, they even made a running track nearby, the library books were changed, the walls painted, even the teachers seemed more excited, I was in the spotlight all the time, and everything happened in a matter of months, it was so fast that I didn’t realize what was happening, I just thought that if they liked me to be obsessed with winning then I should be following a certain path, so one day when we were close to the national finals, I remember watching videos of your game all day, trying to learn everything I could, they had a big meeting, in one of the most distant rooms of the school building, the principal, the coach and some people I had never seen before were there, all of them sitting in my direction with big smiles and a pile of documents on the table, they kept throwing information on me for two hours, they wanted me to lose the finals, apparently the bets on school games increased a lot, the bets were on me, they suddenly wanted me to have a bad day and fail the final so they could win some more money, which would be a lot, what they wanted to be a bad day turned into a bad month for me, I stayed away from everyone, I didn't speak more than a word or two to anyone, they didn't want me as the big star of the school, like you are here, they wanted me as the big money maker, I let it all go overboard, I used my last drop of obsession to win, I played that final with practically two more people from my team, the rest look pretty on board in the original plan”.

"I remember that, when you took too long to go to the bank, you were farther away from everyone or fixing something to not pay attention to what was going on, I thought you were being arrogant, I'm sorry".

“No problem, I would also think the same thing, I made some people lose a lot of money, and they were really angry, but they couldn't do anything, they weren’t crazy to try to something against a high school girl with a family full of cops, they could do nothing physically against me, but they can still end my career”.

"Did you come here to hide?"

"No, the whole story with Bomi, as embarrassing as it may be, it's true" Yoohyeon sighed, Jiu squeezed her hand a little harder "the problem is that they didn't just settle with me changing schools, they came back today, I think that your coach did not know the whole story, he was quite surprised when there was an earlier meeting ”.

"They won't take you off the team, will they?"

"No, but some protective measures are going to be taken, I didn't want the team to have to deal with all of this".

"Don't be silly, Yoohyeon, we are a team, we are in this together, tell me you are not going out because of this".

Yoohyeon didn't answer, Jiu felt her heart jumping, pulling her into a tight hug while leaving a long kiss on the girl's cheek. Jiu was happy when she saw her cheeks flush and an embarrassed smile appear on her lips.

"I will not let you go anywhere, Yoohyeon".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 2:1 still to come.


	10. Back on track chapter

Jiu was starting to think that she was one of the unluckiest people in the world, she didn't get to meet Yoohyeon after the tests finished, no, far from it.

It seems that the times that Yoohyeon had skipped classes to be the big baseball star, or the time she became obsessed with baseball to the point of missing a few classes in her old school, were showing its effects. She was considered a late student, her knowledge didn’t match the classes she attended, which made her make a little more effort than the others.

This plus the fact of the unwanted visits in their school, caused Yoohyeon's grades to drop, to the point that her mother forbade her to go anywhere that was not the school, she even started to have less training than normal.

Jiu wished she could see the girl through the halls at least, but she had only left her training sessions, which seemed even shorter and even more torturous, since she couldn't even talk to Yoohyeon when it was done, seeing only the girl leaving as soon as the coach dismissed them.

That was until Jiu had enough, marching to Yoohyeon's house on Saturday morning, to help her with whatever problem she had in the stories, trying not to think that the biggest reason was to finally spend time with the girl.

All the courage she had accumulated was gradually lost when she arrived at the house, starting when Yoohyeon's mom opened the door, wearing the hospital uniform while looking at the girl with a confused expression.

"Captain, I'm sorry, but Yoohyeon can't go to training on the weekend until her grades improve" Yoohyeon's mother commented, her words seemed heavy, as if they wanted to make sure the girl was understanding, Jiu felt like if she had been scolded.

"I didn't come because of training".

"Well, she can't go out on other things either."

“No... No...” Jiu felt her cheeks heat up as she tightened her backpack strap "I'm here to help her”.

The woman looked even more surprised "Yoohyeon didn't tell me that you were coming today".

"I kind of didn't tell her, as a surprise”.

Yoohyeon's mother seemed happy with the answer, smiling even more openly, indicating to the girl to continue her way to her daughter's room, without forgetting to mention that she would work until late.

It was there that Jiu lost a little more of her courage. She could see something behind the woman's smile, Yoohyeon had certainly commented more than she had imagined with her mother about her. And because that also meant she was going to be alone with Yoohyeon all afternoon, not that she was thinking about something she shouldn't, but it’s been so long that hasn’t been alone with Yoohyeon, that she wondered if her mind was going to play tricks on her, that was certainly not what she was looking for in the middle of all that mess.

Yoohyeon turned to the door before she could even get her attention, Jiu couldn't help noticing that even with an expression of surprise the girl looked exactly like her mother. Even more after she opened a big smile exactly as before when she said that she was there to help her, indicating that the girl to pull up a chair to sit beside her.

It was long hours before Yoohyeon finally took a break for the two of them, disappearing from the room for a few seconds to get what she said would be lunch for them, which ended up being sandwiches, sodas and several bags of chips and sweets.

"We should have something after happy all of this work," Yoohyeon commented as she threw it all over the books and notebooks.

Jiu got her eyes to the girl after a few minutes, Yoohyeon in turn had her eyes fixed on a point on the ceiling. She could tell that something was spinning in the girl's head, as if she were contemplating whether or not to say what she was thinking.

Finally she turned her eyes to Jiu, getting a little scared for already being watched so closely. Jiu paid attention to the pink that appeared on the girl's cheeks, Yoohyeon was someone who blushed easily.

"Thank you for coming to help me" Yoohyeon started, Jiu was sure it was not what the girl was thinking so much, but that it was coming at some point.

"Don't worry, that's what a captain is for".

Yoohyeon smiled, a weak smile before shoving a handful of chips in her mouth. She sighed before continuing, her mouth still a little full.

"I had plenty of time to think after being grounded" Yoohyeon started.

“So now you admit it is a punishment? I thought you were still in the narrative that it was advice from your mother”.

"It could be both, but anyway..." she tapped her fingers together in an attempt to clean it up "I thought about a few things while I was here," Jiu bit her tongue swallowing the joke that was at the tip of her tongue "about the team, about colleges, about where I can go and where I want to go".

"This is good, it would be a good thing if you made plans beyond baseball".

“I know, that's why I thought about you” Jiu's eyes widened, watching Yoohyeon begin so shy made her happy somehow, Yoohyeon focused on her fingers in her lap, playing unconsciously with them “I mean, unconsciously, I thought about you, about everything that happened, and I feel that somehow I owe you an answer”.

"You don't owe me answers, you should take your time to think about everything, I don't want you to give me something in a hurry and without knowing what is happening to yourself".

"Because you don't know what's going on with yourself?" Yoohyeon looked at her.

"No, I think I know everything now".

"You should teach me then".

“And what would be the fun in that? You will also find it more fun when you come to a conclusion yourself”

Yoohyeon gave a small laugh, turning her attention back to the package of chips again.

"And what was on your mind exactly when you thought of me?" Jiu returned to the conversation, not satisfied with ending that conversation that way, she knew that it would torment her if she didn’t satisfy her curiosity.

"About what I feel".

"Did you get anywhere?".

"Yes, maybe, I don't know”.

"It looks promising”.

"Hey!" Yoohyeon pushed her away, her smile never leaving her face "I noticed a few things, about us".

"Okay, I would love to hear about your point of view."

“I realized I was seeing things the wrong way, I was so focused on having the same feelings as you that I didn't realize I was trying to have the same experiences as you, which was driving me crazy, because we are never going to go through the same things in the beginning, I never noticed...”.

"Me? Did you never notice me?”.

"That's not it, of course I knew who you were, Jiu, you're a good player, it's just that I never saw you as...".

“A competitor? It is my fault, I was obsessed with winning over you, I ended up not noticing that admiration was stronger, and it is very easy for admiration to become something more”.

“Don't say it was your fault, feelings can't be controlled, apparently my ego doesn't either, I don't see people so strongly, I only know the points I have to know, only quick opponents, the competition is me”.

"Are you telling me this just to tell me how good a player you are?" Jiu wondered, amused by the way the girl walked away when the subject of baseball came up in some way.

"No, I don't need that" Jiu laughed as she watched the girl's smug and amused smile "it's just, what I mean is that it's a shame that we can't go out as expected, but it's a good thing that I may have put some things in their place”.

"What do you want to tell me exactly?"

"Just because I didn't succeed in trying to have the same feelings as you through the same experiences, it doesn't mean that I can't have some feelings of my own, through my experiences”.

For some reason Yoohyeon lets the conversation die there, Jiu guessed it was because the girl didn't know how to proceed from there, or was afraid or afraid to do something she couldn't control.

Jiu couldn't blame her for that, because she herself let the conversation die, too. Her thoughts were at millions per hour as she tried to understand what had happened, it seemed that somehow Yoohyeon had confessed something to her.

Yoohyeon's father arrived before Jiu left, and she was sure it would take a long time for her to get used to his presence.

"Aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Yoohyeon's father asked as soon as they came down, Jiu had a feeling of dejavu as he tightened the backpack strap "I was about to order Chinese food".

"Not today, I still have to see some things for tomorrow, but thanks for the invitation".

"Consider yourself invited to come here whenever you want, even more if you are going to make Yoohyeon study".

"I'm going to take you to the car" Yoohyeon hurried to pull her away, already knowing where that all was going.

Jiu slowly felt himself relax as soon as the door closed.

She stopped before getting in the car, turning to Yoohyeon.

"About earlier today, our conversation..." Jiu started.

"Ah, I still have to thank someone for that."

"Someboone to thank?".

"Yes, I had a very enlightening conversation, it helped me a lot, we also talked about me doing something".

Jiu watched Yoohyeon getting more and more nervous, then she getting closer, she still had her eyes open when Yoohyeon kissed her, much faster than the time she stole the kiss in the dirty pool.

"Send me a message when you get home" Yoohyeon said before turning around and heading back to the house quickly.

Jiu noticed two things before leaving, the reddish on Yoohyeon's cheeks and the curtains closing desperately when she was coming back. 

She could still feel her heart racing when she stopped the car in front of Sua's house, the girl opening the door with a smirk on her face.


	11. Chapter 11

Jiu realized when Yoohyeon started to change in the games, it was the small details and reactions she had, even though she was an expert at pretending that everything was fine when the games were over.

They were in the first games of the nationals, when the weather was starting to fall, also when Jiu felt that she was going to throw up every time she finished sending an application to college.

It was a training game with the city college team, which was surprisingly inferior to the school team. Her coach had even made a comment about how that was one of the reasons why she had to choose a good college, she knew that he had good intentions with, as a brotherly advice, but he still couldn't feel her being swallowed by the fear of the future, the last thing she wanted to do was stop on a team like that.

She watched Yoohyeon position herself on the base, without swinging the bat like she normally did, but the sarcastic and annoying smile bigger than ever. Jiu moved on the bench, pressing her fingers on the bars until they were white.

She noticed the details, which anyone probably wouldn't think much about, except that Jiu had more than enough reasons to pay attention to it, like when Yoohyeon's eyes went to the bleachers for seven seconds, and the girl went rigid, her eyes frying the base under her for too long, then she focused on the pitcher, who let it show easily that she was going to throw an effect ball, Yoohyeon gave the same sarcastic smile to her, this time bigger than usual.

Yoohyeon only needed one try to hit the ball, the object flying far enough for Yeji to reach third base and Yoohyeon to touch first.

"She is playing so well, I never thought she still had room to improve" Dami said standing next to her, Siyeon was heading to hit.

"I know, but she's not playing for the game."

“Does that make a big difference? I mean, Siyeon only plays for the game, because she likes to have something to be dedicate about”.

"But Siyeon is Siyeon, Yoohyeon is different, she plays because she likes the sport, she is not being herself, she is playing to make someone angry with her victory".

"Are you going to do something about that?".

Jiu watched Siyeon miss all tries, and a Yoohyeon walking with deep steps to the bench at the end of the inning, even though she tried to appear calm and making a joke or two for a frustrated Siyeon to get better. She tried not to keep her eyes on Yoohyeon while the coach passed the plan on to the next inning.

"Hey" Jiu called while they walked her positions on the field, Yoohyeon looked at her with a sweet smile, at least something seemed true in that game "Is everything okay?"

"Yes".

"Great, so try to relax".

Jiu positioned herself at her base, watching the girl walk away with a confused expression on her face. She didn't have a chance to see if the girl kept her expression the rest of the inning, the only times she managed to turn back was when her only throw was hit, seeing Yoohyeon holding the ball like it was nothing a few seconds later, and giving a smug smile in her direction, Jiu felt relieved, it was not one of the 'let's start a fight now' smug that she had her face in the last games, it was the same smug 'I can do better' that she always did.

When they were returning to the bench, to the other part of the inning, Yoohyeon bumped her shoulder, smiling while holding her hand for a few seconds. Jiu could still see something behind her eyes.

Yoohyeon managed three home runs in the game, one of the balls going far enough for her to hit one of the cars in the parking lot, making her even more energetic after the game.

"Hey, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" Siyeon asked as they walked to the parking lot when the game was over.

"Play video games, this game has already bored me a lot" Yoohyeon replied.

"Don't say that while the players of the rival team are around" Jiu slapped the girl on the shoulder, smiling politely at the group of players not far from them.

"But it was a boring game" Yoohyeon grumbled as she massaged the place that had been hit.

"I suppose your mother is working " Jiu continued.

"Yes?".

"She would never let you play the rest of the day with your grades going up so little"

"It's Sunday! What are you going to do? Scold me?”.

"Not if you come with me".

Yoohyeon stared at her, blinking her eyes slowly, she sure as hell wasn't expecting something like that. Not that they didn't have their moments after the kiss in front of Yoohyeon's house, like sometimes she unconsciously held the hand of the youngest, or when Yoohyeon appeared in the halls to take her to her next class.

 _'You are the cliché of a teenage couple without even being a couple,_ ' Siyeon commented on one of the recess, when Yoohyeon quickly passed their table for a hug before going to meet Yeji for extra training.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Jiu asked again when the waitress was gone, the one not leaving without saying first that she hoped the school would win the nationals that year, Jiu tried not to think too much about how the waitress had said this directly to Yoohyeon.

"Isn't that a funny question?" Yoohyeon reached out to steal one of Jiu's fries, Jiu hold herself from throwing a joke towards the girl, there was something on Yoohyeon's eyebrows that said she needed to say something “People don't usually answer it honestly, it’s often just a prefabricated answer, I don't even know if the people who ask really want to know...”.

"Of course, I want to know the truth, I wouldn't bring you here if that was my intention".

Yoohyeon stared at her for a few seconds, finally taking the fries to her mouth before continuing "What if my answer has to do with you".

"You still don't have to hide it”.

"I'm fine," Yoohyeon sighed, adjusting herself in the chair so she could eat the sandwich in front of her "but are you asking me that as a captain or as a friend?"

"I'm asking you how Jiu, is there any difference between the answers that I could receive".

"Yes," Yoohyeon focused on finishing the bite on her sandwich before talking again, Jiu felt they were in a game of chess "but I think you don’t want the captain's answer, my grades are going up, well, small steps are better than nothing, enough to my mom don't get me off the team, I've been doing more than enough at games, and I've even helped train the other girls so they don't get so lost when you leave at the end of the school year”.

"So your answer to captain is a storm of self-confidence”.

"Don't act like you don't like me with my self-confidence" Jiu felt her cheeks flush aggressively, taking that as a sign that she should focus on her food at that moment.

"Well, thanks for looking after the team”.

"The girls are still young, they need to find someone to take care of them just like you took care of the team when Bomi left".

"You can do more than great work with that next year”.

Yoohyeon sighed, Jiu took her eyes off her plate so she could look at the girl, who was looking directly at her. Sometimes Yoohyeon was easy to read, when she was tired, anxious or disgruntled it was easy to see from afar, when she was angry or when she just needed a hug you needed two looks to find out, but there were moments that caught anyone confused, like when she stopped doing something just to look at Jiu, or when she whispered things to herself in adverse situations, or as at that moment.

"I heard that applications for regional colleges started" Yoohyeon said after a while.

It was really like they were playing chess.

"Yeah, the girls reminded me of that in the last few days, they only stopped talking when I pressed send".

"There are good schools around here" Yoohyeon commented when she felt a negative tone behind Jiu's words.

"I know, but I don't know if I want to go to any of them”.

"Exactly".

Jiu blinked a few times, it was as if Yoohyeon had brought down her king in front of her and a bright white light had appeared ending the game, she would never have imagined that the girl could lead her into conversation and make her see some things that she had her eyes closed on. It was really a situation that she was not used to, normally she would be the person who would give the checkmate.

"What would be your other answer?" Jiu asked.

“Your school is not for me, they are not big enough to keep some people away, they are getting closer and closer, money is very important in the adult world, at least it what it looks like it, I like your school, your programs are excellent and some teachers really care about their students, but your principal and coach don't know how to play the game that people expect me to play, in fact, they don't deserve to have to deal with it, this is too much”.

Jiu could not be surprised by that, she had seen some pamphlets and books from other schools, bigger, better and much more expensive than hers, the kind that people used to see in movies or tv shows about model schools. And Jiu couldn't blame her for that, she herself had dreamed of studying at such a school before, and the girl would probably have everything in her hands when she got there.

"So are you leaving?" Jiu asked, Yoohyeon smiled at her.

"Together with you, when the school year is over, you know, I realized something too, that we are much better on opposing teams."

Jiu rolled her eyes.

"Come on, don't tell me you don't realize that I bring your best" Yoohyeon continued.

"Yoohyeon... Just eat your sandwich".

Yoohyeon just laughed, following Jiu's order. When they were returning to the car, Yooheyon slid her hand into Jiu's, holding it just like the older one did before without realizing it.

"I was serious, your best results are when you compete with me".

"Are you trying to say that I do better when I want to crush you?"

"You would never do that," Jiu tried to take her hands off Yoohyeon's, but the girl just laughed and pulled her even closer "I'll prove it to you, let's compete until the end of the season".

"Does the winner win anything?".

"I still don't know what I'm going to wish for it".

"I'm going to try harder to put an end to your ego," Yoohyeon just smiles at her, then her tone changes to something deeper and more provocative "maybe I have an idea" Yooheyon's eyes widen, her face in a reddish tinge while trying to look anywhere but the woman next to her, Jiu laughs openly, head thrown back and eyes narrowed "you are really just words".

Jiu found herself in a situation that she needed to take advantage of, she knew that her path with Yoohyeon would be different after she graduated, but she still had some hope that the girl could stay there, at a fixed point so that Jiu could run to her as soon as she wanted. Then things became uncertain, to the point that she didn’t know if there was a chance that they would be on opposite sides of the country, far enough away that everything they had, whatever it was, was just a painful distance living in the hope of some game in a college championship could make them see each other.

And maybe she was being too dramatic, they were in the tech century, they could see each other if they wanted to, and that was where the problem was. Yoohyeon had not yet given her an answer, she didn’t know if the girl would want to see her, because had not yet responded to her feelings, but it still made Jiu have even more feelings for her with such simple things.

No, this was not something she wanted, falling in love with a big star with an uncertain future really wasn't something she wanted.

She found that Yoohyeon was serious about betting on the next game, the last game of the first phase of the national championship before the winter break. The girl had a big smile on her face as she walked to the base, this time her gaze was not directed at her opponent or the strange people who watched her too much in the stands, it was only for Jiu, and for a few moments Jiu felt relieved, until the moment that Yoohyeon hit a ball far enough that she could go to second base.

"We should make one bet per game," Yoohyeon commented as they switched positions for the second half of the game.

"Yoohyeon, pay attention to the game" Jiu tried to push the girl to her position on the field while she took over the pitch.

"I'm paying attention, I'm even giving you a hint," Yoohyeon looked quickly at the opponent, hiding her mouth with her glove while talking again "she hurt her shoulder last season, I doubt she's recovered enough to be able to hit a quick pitch” Yoohyeon smiled at her, the same smug from when they were on opposite teams, going to their position before the referee could kicked her out of the game “one request per game ”.

Jiu hated that she was right about the pitch, and hated it even more for accepting that bet. They won the game, placing second in the general classification of the first part, and Yoohyeon won the bet, after having made all of the team vote to see who had been the best, the newcomers looked like they would have a heart attack with the two on top of them, by three votes difference Yoohyeon won her first wish.

"There are a lot of options when you win a bet" whispered Yoohyeon as they were on the bus coming home, they could hear the screams in front of the bus from the other girls excited about the victory.

"Why did I decide to sit next to you?" Jiu grunted as she closed her eyes.

"I have my wish ready, I have to show you a place".


End file.
